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FCC Orders 'You Will Connect VoIP' |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Monday, 05 March 2007 |
In a ruling that
overturns two state directives, the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has ruled that rural carriers must connect VoIP
services.
Following a petition submitted by Time
Warner Cable in response to rulings in South Carolina and Nebraska that
local exchange carriers could refuse to allow access to their networks
on the basis that VoIP was not a "telecommunications service". The
petition was submitted almost a year ago.
In a statement the
FCC Chairman said the decision was to help promote competition and
create a level playing field. While South Carolina and Nebraska had
ruled against local incumbent carriers opening their networks, a number
of other states including Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and New York had all
ruled the other way forcing regional telcos to carry the traffic.
The ruling upholds an interpretation of the 1934 Communications
Services Act that doesn't differentiate between telecommunication services or service providers.
The
decision is seen as a glimmer of hope to Net neutrality advocates as
the ruling seems to deny a carrier's right to discriminate by blocking
only certain types of traffic - in this instance VoIP traffic.
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