FCC must like Groundhog's Day
The FCC once again backed off again on enforcing a deadline for broadband VoIP providers to disconnect all customers who haven't acknowledged the e911 limitations. The decision to delay the enforcement came yesterday, just a day before the deadline would have forced at least 10,000 subscribers to lose phone service. All this repetitive delaying by the FCC reminds me of the movie Groundhog's Day, which happened to be on TV jsut the other night. That movie never gets old even after seeing it 6 times.
In any event, there is a new "wrinkle" added to the mix. The FCC said VoIP providers that had received confirmations from at least 90% of their subscribers would no longer face the disconnection requirement, however, they still must continue seeking the remaining acknowledgments. Talk about your back-peddaling!
All VoIP providers below the 90% threshold will have until October 31st to reach the 90% level and avoid the disconnection requirement.
On a related note, I am very surprised there has not been a lot of hooplah surrounding the FCC's VoIP wiretapping requirement that I blogged about a few days ago. In that article, I read the FCC's order that not only requires the Vonage's of this world to be "wiretappable" but also the PC VoIP softphone clients, such as Skype. It would appear that the FCC not only wants to wiretap SkypeOut calls that touch the PSTN, but also Skype-to-Skype IP calls that never touch the PSTN. This is a huge change since IP calls were formerly protected as an "information service" as defined by Congress. There are some interesting comments to my blog post from the other day about what this means to the VoIP industry that you should really check out.
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Comments to FCC must like Groundhog's Day
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David Beaulieu :
January 19, 2006 2:19 PMWhoops! My link didn't show up in my first comment. Here it is: Groundhog Day and the Groundhog Day Movie
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David Beaulieu :
January 19, 2006 2:13 PM
You're right: the "Groundhog Day" movie never gets old. Here's one observer who looks forward to Groundhog Day 2006 with great anticipation. The URL I've provided is for an article that explains why -- especially Page 5.