Industry Indicators

The VoIP industry just wants to be left alone, and so far FCC Chairman Michael Powell has taken a hands-off approach to regulating it.

However, AT&T has a request-in-waiting at the FCC for a ruling on whether or not VoIP calls should be subject to access fees, which it doesn’t want to see attached to calls over the Internet.

And, in early August the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has apparently ended the trend of leaving VoIP alone by ordering provider Vonage Holdings to file for a permit to operate a phone company, something that VoIP carriers don’t want to happen. The moves are seen as the first attempt by a state to make VoIP a regulated service.

Now word comes down that regulators in Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other states are drafting rules for VoIP providers. States are concerned that VoIP phones and services aren’t linked to the 911 regime or other regulated services.

This is not good news for VoIP carriers. John Handley, whose start-up company, Howdy World Communications is based in Arcade, N.Y., is not happy about the turn of events. “I’m not for states regulating VoIP, though traditional long-distance carriers like MCI and Sprint are for regulating it because they don’t want the competition. It burdens a growing segment of the telecom industry.”

Perhaps VoIP is reaching the point where regulators need to pay attention. IP telephony subscribers in the United States number nearly 2.5 million, and nearly 10 percent of all calls are VoIP generated. And, according to analyst group In-Stat/MDR, there will be 7 million VoIP phones in circulation by 2007.