:House Votes on ISP Access Charges
@dek:
@author:Kim Sunderland
@teaser: The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to prohibit the FCC from imposing access charges on ISPs, but left the door open on assessing such fees on the providers of Internet telephony services.
@newsbody:The U.S. House of Representatives (www.house.gov) voted unanimously to prohibit the FCC (www.fcc.gov) from imposing access charges on ISPs, but left the door open on assessing such fees on the providers of Internet telephony services.
The House by a voice vote May 16 approved H.R. 1291, the Internet Access Charge Prohibition Act of 1999, which was introduced in March 1999 by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.). The purpose of the bill when it was introduced was to ensure that Internet services continued to be deployed as rapidly and efficiently as possible to as many people as possible by preventing the FCC from applying interstate access charges to ISPs. Historically IXCs pay access charges to the incumbent telcos for using the local network and some of the money helps support universal service for low-income and rural areas.
But late last week, an amendment was added to the horror of Internet telephony companies, ISPs, and many CLECs. The reworked legislation includes a rule that says the FCC won't be prevented from imposing access charges on the providers Internet-based telephony services, "irrespective of the type of customer premises equipment used in connection with such services."
In other words, says Jeff Pulver, president and CEO of pulver.com (www.pulver.com), the new version of the bill "allows the FCC to impose access charges on Internet telephony … whether provided via phone, computer, or some other device.
"The original bill as introduced said nothing about IP telephony," Pulver noted in an e-mail urging interested parties to oppose the bill to Congress. "The new bill, amended only last week without any public hearings … distinguishes the use of the Internet for voice communications from other uses of the Internet and practically invites the FCC to regulate Internet telephony and impose old-fashioned access charges even on PC-to-PC applications."
Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member on the House telecom subcommittee, said during the bill's markup that in the future, the legislation wouldn't protect ISPs from being required to pay LECs for originating and terminating their Internet traffic. Therefore, sources say, ISPs eventually could be forced to help provide universal service by paying for their use of the local network.
"The fact that the [House] voted overwhelmingly in favor today of H.R. 1291 is just another example of a broken system at work," says Jan Horsfall, president and CEO of PhoneFree.com (www.phonefree.com), which offers PC-to-PC calling. "The special interests - in this case the legacy telephone companies - are legislating their own corporate welfare because they're unable to adapt their sprawling bureaucracies to the new market environment where the consumer wants value, not confusion."
The legislation, Horsfall adds, was represented to Americans as protecting them and their free Internet access, when in fact it fails to protect the fastest growing consumer category of Internet services - Internet telephony. Sponsors of H.R. 1291 claim that the issue requires further study in their considerations of protecting the universal service fund.
"Give smart Americans a break!" Horsfall says. "What Congress is really trying to protect is the traditional telecommunications giants who are slower, more expensive but obviously more influential in Washington than the American people."
Pulver says H.R. 1291 "will set in motion a cave-in to the U.S. Bell companies and open the door for the FCC to regulate and impose access charges on IP voice services."
The bill's passage "signals the FCC and other international regulators that IP voice services can and maybe should be regulated like circuit-switched telephony," Pulver says. "The bill is opposed by virtually every high-tech and Internet company and trade association."
The Republican House leadership reportedly wanted to move H.R. 1291 quickly through the House to show support for the Internet community. "On many issues they do," Pulver says, "but on this one, they are plowing forward despite being told by the Internet community that this is not a pro-Internet bill."
The legislation is one of three bills being rushed through the House this month as part of the Republican "E-Contract 2000" agenda. The House already this month passed a five-year extension of the current Internet tax moratorium and next week plans action on a bill repealing the 3 percent excise tax on telephone service.
"We are going to unite our consumer base and let them know what this bill is all about," Horsfall says. "Things will be different in the Senate."
