Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh Calls on the FCC
To Let States Regulate New Internet Telephone Service

Newark, NJ – Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to allow states to regulate the new communications technology of Internet telephone service in the same way that states now regulate traditional intrastate telephone services.

The Division of the Ratepayer Advocate said the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) should have jurisdiction over this new technology, known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which enables voice communication over the Internet. The BPU must ensure that essential services, such as 911 access, universal service, and access for people with disabilities, are available to all users while also maintaining consumer protections.

“By protecting consumers with state regulation of VoIP, the FCC will be ensuring the public’s trust in this nascent technology,” said Ratepayer Advocate Singh. “We are not attempting to stifle this still developing communications technology. On the contrary, we are supporting the consumer protections and service quality standards that are essential if the public is to try this new technology.”

Under federal law, both the states and the federal government regulate telecommunications services, while the federal government currently regulates information services. “If the FCC determines that VoIP is a telecommunications service, then the states must have jurisdiction over those services,” said Ms. Singh. “If, however, the FCC determines that VOIP is an information service, we are requesting that the state maintain its role in overseeing service quality and consumer protections.”
“While the Ratepayer Advocate agrees that VoIP and other emerging technologies offer exciting new possibilities to expand the way Americans communicate, we urge the Commission to recognize that states have a role in the regulation of VoIP services in order to protect the public interest,” the Ratepayer Advocate stated in papers filed with the FCC on May 28 in response to the agency’s request for comments from states, consumer organizations and telecommunications companies as it considers proposed rules for the new communications technology.

The Ratepayer Advocate said that just as other voice telecommunications services contribute to various federal and state universal service funds to ensure that low-income state residents have access to lifeline telecommunications services under the requirements set by state regulators, so should VoIP providers.

VoIP providers who rely on the traditional telephone network, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), should pay access charges to maintain the network, the Ratepayer Advocate said. VoIP providers must also meet 911 and other emergency and public safety obligations as well as provide access those state residents with disabilities, just as traditional telephone providers do.

“In particular, states must ensure that consumer protections apply equally to all providers of voice communications, regardless of technology,” the Ratepayer Advocate said.

“Therefore, as telecommunications evolves into end-to-end IP networks integrating voice, video, and data, the Commission must take preemptive steps and develop a regulatory framework that, at a minimum, ensures that all carriers of voice service contribute to the traditional social obligations of telecommunications carriers,” the Ratepayer Advocate concluded.

VoIP converts analog voice signals spoken into a traditional telephone into digital packets. These digital packets are routed as data over an Internet Protocol network instead of being transmitted over the traditional telephone circuit-switched network. The packets are then turned back into voice signals so that the voice of the “caller” can heard over the receiver’s traditional telephone.

By not relying on telephone circuit switched networks, voice communications do not tie up a dedicated path or channel. Instead, packets of voice communications can be sent over the same path as other data or voice packets. Due to the efficiencies of multiplexing possible in an IP network, a common infrastructure can simultaneously carry multiple services including VoIP-based telephone, along with data and video.

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The Division of the Ratepayer Advocate is an independent state agency that represents the interests of utility consumers and serves as an active participant in every case where New Jersey utilities seek changes in their rates or services. The Ratepayer Advocate also gives consumers a voice in setting long-range energy, water, and telecommunications policy that will affect the delivery of utility services well into the future. Additional information on this and other matters can be found at the Division of Ratepayer Advocate’s website at http://www.rpa.state.nj.us

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