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When the FCC announced several weeks ago that it would consider requiring VoIP providers to pay access charges, it didn't occur to me that the commission might impose a separate long-distance access charge rate for VoIP providers. But as a recent FCC workshop revealed, that is one of several options the commission is considering.
The workshop, which happened on April 7, focused on inter-carrier compensation reform and brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including incumbent carriers such as Verizon and Windstream and competitive carriers such as XO and Vonage, as well as Time Warner Cable. There was even a Wall Street representative-Paul Gallant, senior vice president and telecom analyst for Stanford Washington Research Group.
"Wall Street is glad to see the FCC cares about Wall Street," said Gallant. He seemed to speak for almost everyone present when he said there have been a lot of "fits and starts on this issue the past few years that have been very frustrating to Wall Street."
The options
Of the five service providers on the panel, two-Windstream Communications and Time Warner Cable-said they would like to see VoIP providers pay...