Firms Want Federal Jurisdiction Over IP Services
TechAmerica and a coalition of companies and other trade associations are calling on Congress to pass legislation asserting federal jurisdiction over regulation of Internet Protocol (IP)-based services. In a letter Tuesday to the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees, the coalition wrote that even though the FCC has ruled that it has exclusive jurisdiction over regulation of IP-based services, "there continue to be proposals that would permit state regulation, ultimately hurting IP-enabled Internet communications providers and their customers."
The coalition noted that their firms are investing in IP-based services, such as voice-over-IP, that are being deployed without regard to state boundaries. "Absent congressional action to confirm exclusive federal jurisdiction, IP services will be subject to a patchwork of 50-plus different regulatory regimes, stifling innovation and the industry's ability to take full advantage of available cost savings" from IP-based services, the coalition, which also includes AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, the National Association of Manufacturers and others, wrote. They added that, "Congress must ensure that these inherently interstate services are regulated exclusively at the federal level, to the extent these services need to be regulated at all, and reject efforts to apply legacy state telecommunication regulation to the IP world."
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