The Telephony IP Transition; Circumventing FCC OversightThe Telephony IP Transition; Circumventing FCC Oversight

How will the FCC's role continue to evolve as issues like the IP transition and Net Neutrality impact its jurisdiction over broadband services and carrier activity?

There are many discussions about the defeat of the FCC as it relates to Net Neutrality. Most deal with the open access and traffic-treatment issues. Under the recent court ruling, broadband providers can charge for premium service, giving priority to those who pay higher rates, which will have a financial impact on content distributors. Could the Internet provider networks buy or merge with content providers and give their content sites better service than the content competitors? It certainly seems possible. Higher costs for premium service would likely slow the development of small independent content developers with limited budgets.

But following quick on the heels of the drive to end Net Neutrality, there is another carrier goal: The dismantling of the FCC's oversight on communications services. The big carriers want to keep reducing the FCC's jurisdiction, an oversight regime which has traditionally strived for equal treatment of all users of the Internet.

The IP Transition
The communications world is depending more and more on IP-based networks. The eventual transition to an all-IP network is inevitable, but the transition to IP is a technological development. My question is "How can we retain the capabilities and social responsibilities that came with the PSTN?"

As we now see, broadband service and the FCC's ability to ensure that we still receive the same treatment we experienced on the PSTN is in jeopardy. Under the broadband interpretation, voice calls are just another information service, a service to be treated like data.

The Kingsbury Commitment
In the early part of the 20th century, monopolies were being broken--including Standard Oil, the American Tobacco Company and roughly 30 others. AT&T wanted to avoid such a breakup. The U.S. Justice Department was considering pursuing the breakup of AT&T, and Theodore Vail, the head of AT&T, did not want to see the company broken up. He believed in "One Policy, One System, Universal Service". This could not be achieved with a dismantled AT&T; he wanted a monopoly. So to stop the breakup of AT&T, company VP Nathan Kingsbury offered, in a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, to create a more favorable climate by divesting AT&T of its holdings in Western Union, and opening connections to the AT&T long distance network to competing telephone companies . The commitments in the letter were expanded by Congress, which formalized the legal obligations required of the old AT&T--which in turn was succeeded by today's incumbent telcos: namely, the new AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink.

What we in the U.S. received with this deal was the PSTN that for 100 years gave us universal service across the entire country including 911, E911 and other important services.

What We May be Losing
We have all become used to the PSTN delivering high quality and very reliable voice services. As the PSTN moved from analog to digital switching and transmission, the service improved. As long as the IP implementation meets or exceeds the quality and reliability of the PSTN, I will be satisfied. However, this appears not to be likely.

I have fiber optic broadband service. I am very satisfied with its performance. However, when it comes to 911 support, I get less than what the PSTN delivered over copper lines. My interface unit does provide battery backup when I have a power failure, but only for 8 hours. On the copper wire connection, my 911 calls were supported as long as I had a working connection. No time limit.

If you were among those hit by Superstorm Sandy, the storm knocked out substantial communications infrastructure. When Verizon decided to re-establish communications on Fire Island NY by installing Voice Link, which is a cell-like service to replace the lost landlines, customers complained. The service was poor. A U.S. senator even got involved on the side of the customers. Verizon is installing fiber optic services to replace the lost copper landlines. This episode highlights the carriers' desire to offer the voice service that is best for their profits, not necessarily best for the customer.

The Future of the FCC
If the FCC continues to lose jurisdiction over broadband services, you can expect the service providers to be driven by profit, not service delivery. This latest judgment lost by the FCC will probably be appealed to the Supreme Court. The possible court decision is hard to predict. We may have to push for Congress to get involved, but I hold out little hope that Congress will do anything but side with the carriers.

An excellent resource to learn more about AT&T's history and the IP transition is the Washington Post article, "This 100-year-old deal birthed the modern phone system. And it's all about to end."

You can also read the latest development, in which the FCC authorized providers to perform experiments in efforts to determine impact of technology transitions, on the FCC website.