The Federal Communications Commission is expected to rule next Tuesday on a petition asking the agency to declare that Internet phone service is an interstate service outside the jurisdiction of state regulators.
Vonage Holdings Corp. and a band of other U.S. Internet phone companies are seeking to be regulated under federal jurisdiction, where FCC Chairman Michael Powell has reiterated his intent to apply as few rules as possible to let new technology flourish in the free market.
On Nov. 9, the commission is slated to consider an opinion and order concerning a petition filed by Vonage, which asked the FCC to declare its service is an interstate service outside the jurisdiction of state regulation.
The petition was filed last year after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission released an order requiring Vonage to comply with traditional telecommunications rules. A judge overturned the Minnesota commission, but the case is on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.
Without federal precedent, state regulators have taken divergent positions as to whether, and how, to regulate the rapidly growing number of communications companies routing America’s phone calls over the Internet. The New York State Department of Public Service voted earlier this year to partially regulate Vonage, but a U.S. magistrate judge granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the commission from asserting jurisdiction.
