Regulatory Issues of VoIP :: essays research papers

Regulatory issues of VoIPThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has worked to stool an environment promoting competition and innovation to benefit consumers. Histori phoney, the FCC has not regulated the network or the aids provided oer it. On February 12, 2004, the FCC found that an entirely meshwork-based VoIP service was an unregulated information service. Currently, the FCC is not regulating VoIP, however there ar still major concerns that need to be addressed. There are lead main issues that are of the utmost importance to the telecommunications industry. The measure Freedom act, E-911, and Calea are three most imperative issues concerning VoIP. The internet Tax Freedom playact was authored by Rep. Christopher Cox and Sen. Ron Wyden, and signed into law on October 21, 1998 by electric chair Bill Clinton. This law bars carry and local governments from taxing Internet doorway service. In 2003 the House of Representatives approved bill H.R. 49, the Internet Tax No n-Discrimination Act of 2003. This bill would expand and make permanent a federally imposed moratorium on state and local taxation of sales of Internet access serve. States and local governments would be permanently prohibited from charging sales taxes on the monthly service charge that households and businesses pay to be able to access the World Wide Web. VoIP rides a fine line between be a telephone service and an internet service. This is due to the fact that a forestall is initiated from a phone in an analog format, transmitted over the internet in a digital format and finally reborn back to analog format typically across the same lines that traditionalistic phones operate on. In addition many states rely on the taxes authentic from telephone service to run programs to low income areas. VoIP is seen as threat to these programs because taxes leave not be imposed on this service due to on-line(prenominal) legislative language. Many opponents of the non-taxation of VoIP fee l that exemption from taxation is not demand to spur investments in this type of telecommunication. They also feel it singles show up one type of telecommunications service for favorable treatment, which will lead to separate types of services asking for similar treatment at the expense of the state and local tax base.E-911 short for Enhanced 911, is a location technology that will enable phones to process 911 emergency calls and enable emergency services to locate the geographic position of the caller. When a person makes a 911 call using a traditional phone with ground wires, the call is routed to the nigh public safety answering point (PSAP) that then distributes the emergency call to the proper services.