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CWA Fighting for Consumers and Jobs in VoIP Debate
CWA is gathering allies in a campaign at federal and state levels to subject companies providing voice telephony over the Internet to the same rules and obligations as traditional telecommunications providers.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an emerging technology that converts a conversation into digital packets sent partially, or in a few cases entirely, over the Internet and reconstructed at the other end as normal speech. It requires a telephone handset, special router and broadband connection, either DSL or cable modem.
All of the Bell companies are planning, and some have begun, to offer VoIP to business customers. They face intense competition. Cable providers Cox, Time Warner and Comcast are poised to jump into the fray and threaten traditional telephone companies' share of the multibillion-dollar local market. These along with nonunion startups such as Vonage, Net2Phone and Voiceglo hope to undercut the price of the Bells' and other local telephone voice service by avoiding payments to support universal service.
Congress is beginning to look at VoIP, and the Federal Communications Commission - traditionally reluctant to interfere with use of the Internet - will shortly launch proceedings to determine what, if any, form of regulation should apply to the new technology.
On Jan. 30, CWA joined the Alliance for Public Technology, disability groups, the National Consumers League and others in writing to the leadership of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, urging them "to ensure that the social obligations of universal service, disability access, and public safety continue to be the hallmark of our nation's telecommunications policy."
The letter to Subcommittee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) makes a strong case that VoIP is "functionally equivalent to plain old telephone service," and as such should be subject to the same regulations placed upon telecom providers by the FCC and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The nation's telecom providers are all required to pay into a $6 billion "universal service" fund, which subsidizes the high cost of providing service to rural areas, low-income households, and schools and libraries. "The public switched network remains the backbone of this country's communications system and VoIP providers must contribute to the maintenance of the network through inter-carrier compensation," the letter states.
It also points out that Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act mandates that telecom services must be accessible and usable for people with disabilities. "These provisions must apply equally to VoIP carriers," the letter argues. "VoIP providers must contribute to the telecommunications relay service (TRS) fund to ensure accessible telecommunications service for people with hearing and speech disabilities."
In the interest of public safety, the letter calls for VoIP providers to be subject, the same as traditional telephone companies, to the requirement to provide emergency 911 service to customers, and that they be required to provide "the same basic consumer protections, including privacy, advanced notification of termination of service and other obligations."
Other signers include the American Association of People with Disabilities, Community Action Partnership, the AFL-CIO's Department of Professional Employees and the Independent Living Network.
CWA also collaborated with the New Millennium Research Council on a study issued in December on "The Future of Internet Phone Calling: Regulatory Imperatives to Protect the Promise of VoIP for Industry and Consumers" and participated in a recent forum conducted by the FCC.
In a filing with the FCC, the union urged the commission to deny Vonage preemption of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission order that the company comply with state laws governing providers of telephone service. CWA also submitted letters or testimony to the New York and Ohio public service commissions and the California state Senate.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an emerging technology that converts a conversation into digital packets sent partially, or in a few cases entirely, over the Internet and reconstructed at the other end as normal speech. It requires a telephone handset, special router and broadband connection, either DSL or cable modem.
All of the Bell companies are planning, and some have begun, to offer VoIP to business customers. They face intense competition. Cable providers Cox, Time Warner and Comcast are poised to jump into the fray and threaten traditional telephone companies' share of the multibillion-dollar local market. These along with nonunion startups such as Vonage, Net2Phone and Voiceglo hope to undercut the price of the Bells' and other local telephone voice service by avoiding payments to support universal service.
Congress is beginning to look at VoIP, and the Federal Communications Commission - traditionally reluctant to interfere with use of the Internet - will shortly launch proceedings to determine what, if any, form of regulation should apply to the new technology.
On Jan. 30, CWA joined the Alliance for Public Technology, disability groups, the National Consumers League and others in writing to the leadership of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, urging them "to ensure that the social obligations of universal service, disability access, and public safety continue to be the hallmark of our nation's telecommunications policy."
The letter to Subcommittee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) makes a strong case that VoIP is "functionally equivalent to plain old telephone service," and as such should be subject to the same regulations placed upon telecom providers by the FCC and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The nation's telecom providers are all required to pay into a $6 billion "universal service" fund, which subsidizes the high cost of providing service to rural areas, low-income households, and schools and libraries. "The public switched network remains the backbone of this country's communications system and VoIP providers must contribute to the maintenance of the network through inter-carrier compensation," the letter states.
It also points out that Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act mandates that telecom services must be accessible and usable for people with disabilities. "These provisions must apply equally to VoIP carriers," the letter argues. "VoIP providers must contribute to the telecommunications relay service (TRS) fund to ensure accessible telecommunications service for people with hearing and speech disabilities."
In the interest of public safety, the letter calls for VoIP providers to be subject, the same as traditional telephone companies, to the requirement to provide emergency 911 service to customers, and that they be required to provide "the same basic consumer protections, including privacy, advanced notification of termination of service and other obligations."
Other signers include the American Association of People with Disabilities, Community Action Partnership, the AFL-CIO's Department of Professional Employees and the Independent Living Network.
CWA also collaborated with the New Millennium Research Council on a study issued in December on "The Future of Internet Phone Calling: Regulatory Imperatives to Protect the Promise of VoIP for Industry and Consumers" and participated in a recent forum conducted by the FCC.
In a filing with the FCC, the union urged the commission to deny Vonage preemption of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission order that the company comply with state laws governing providers of telephone service. CWA also submitted letters or testimony to the New York and Ohio public service commissions and the California state Senate.