Qwest Communications is adopting a new policy that makes all “true VoIP traffic” terminating on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) free from access charges. Additionally, Qwest also plans to begin offering local services to VoIP providers, including primary rate interface ISDN circuits (ISDN-PRI). ISDN-PRI is a local exchange service that uses “enhanced T-1” facilities and allows VoIP providers to serve multiple channels within a single broadband connection. Qwest said this would enable VoIP providers to have direct access to the PSTN and avoid historically regulated fees, such as access charges.
Qwest said its definition of “true VoIP” includes only enhanced services, as defined by the FCC, and does not include standard telephony services that use IP simply as a transmission medium between switches.
While Qwest is adopting this policy within its local service territory, the company is also urging the FCC to adopt similar rules nationally. http://www.qwest.com
- Last week, the FCC ruled against AT&T in a case over whether telephone calls placed over the PSTN, converted to IP, transmitted over an IP backbone, and then terminated on the PSTN should be subject to access charges.
The FCC found this type of phone-to-phone IP telephony “lacks the characteristics of an information service and bears the characteristics of a telecommunications service.” AT&T’s phone-to-phone Internet telephony is therefore subject to access charges. An FCC ruling earlier this year found that pulver.com’s Free World Dialup (FWD) service is neither a “telecommunications service�? nor “telecommunications,�? and therefore not subject to traditional telephone regulation. The FCC also declared FWD to be an unregulated information service that is subject to federal jurisdiction. - In December 2003, 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. The company plans to offer the service nationwide this year.