AT&T Response To FCC Ruling On The Phone-To-Phone VoIP Petition


(Background: Yesterday the FCC issued its decision on AT&T's petition asking the agency to clarify the rules on phone-to-phone VoIP. The following statement may be attributed to Jim Cicconi, AT&T general counsel.)

April 23, 2004 /Wi-Fi Technology News/- Some 18 months ago, AT&T asked the FCC to confirm that IP telephony remains free of bloated local company access charges. During those many months, the industry and the public were given repeated public assurances that this Commission would protect new investment in technologies, and would especially resist applying legacy regulatory regimes to Internet telephony.

Despite such explicit statements, the FCC yesterday did a stunning about face and chose instead to protect the monopoly revenues of the Bell companies at the expense of consumers everywhere. This sends an ominous signal as the FCC prepares to tackle even more critical questions that will either spur Internet telephony, or stifle it in order to favor four monopoly phone companies.

Since Internet telephony's inception more than half a decade ago, the FCC has exempted all Internet telephony services, including the phone-to-phone services at the heart of this petition, from the bloated access charge regime established more than 20 years ago to subsidize "old wire" copper networks. In order to promote investment and innovation in new technologies, the FCC previously established a no-regulation zone around the Internet. This Commission now, for the first time breaches that zone.

Rather than leave a legacy that promotes technology and innovation, this FCC will be remembered as the Commission that took the first steps to regulate the Internet despite its public statements to the contrary. The order will give real pause to any carrier that owns an IP network or otherwise innovates in reliance on FCC policies that today prove inconstant. It also raises serious questions about the consistency of the FCC's own statements and positions on the Internet and on investment in new technology.

About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.