Qwest Communications announced the first of a phased deployment of VoIP services to residential customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, making it the first RBOC to offer such a service. It will include a number or Web features, such as online voicemail, call logs, contact lists, call forwarding, etc. Qwest said it plans to provide VoIP services to additional residential and small business customers as well as to medium and large business customers during the first half of 2004.
http://www.qwest.com
- In October, Judge Michael Davis of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ruled that Vonage is “an information service” provider and that it should not be regulated by state laws or the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. In September, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) had issued an order for Vonage to comply with laws that govern telecommunications companies. The U.S. District Court rejected the MPUC’s “quacks like a duck” argument, which essentially held that because Vonage’s customers make phone calls, Vonage’s services must be telecommunication services.