On February 19, 1998 I testified at the FCC En Banc hearing on Universal Service. A copy of my presentation is available here.

During the course of the two hour En Banc hearing - it started to become evident that there is a very strong possiblity that Internet Telephony may become regulated in the United States - mostly due to the efforts of Senator Stevens office and some of the ILECs.

After my presentation - a panel consisting of: Earl Comstock (representing the interests of Senator Stevens), Esther Dyson, representatives from: SBC, AOL, Ian Dix, LCI, Tom Evslin, ITXC Corp., plus representatives from the Cable Industry and a school principal representing the interests of education spoke and took questions from the FCC Chairman and the FCC Commissioners.

It was Ian Dix, Vice President, LCI International who sugested that Internet Telephony threatens the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Now - I don't believe that anybody argues with the worthwhile goals of universal service, but all the debate seems stuck on the means of achieving those goals rather than the goals themselves.

If the emerging Internet Telephony industry can demonstrate a way to achieve the goals by a different means, I don't believe the beneficiaries of universal service would care about the means any more than they care about the infrastructure used when making a telephone call. The end users will notice only who provides the best price and performance.

Forcing new players to achieve the goals by historic means of access fees and universal service funds will actually hurt those we hope will benefit from universal service as it will forestall competition and discourage innovation.

And if we all leave the people working on the FCC's April 10th report to Congress alone - there is a chance that the Internet Telephony may become regulated in the United States in 1998.

I'm currently working closely with Bruce Jacobs in Washington, D.C. and the VON Coalition to help setup meetings with the FCC and Congress to help educate the people making these decisions "the reality of the state of the global Internet Telephony Industry."

If there is anybody on this mailing list who has contacts in Washington, D.C. who would be willing to assist in our efforts - please feel free to contact Bruce Jacobs - or myself.

I am also currently working on setting up the third Internet Telephpny Common Ground Meeting which will be held on March 30th in San Jose at 7.30pm. This meeting will focus on the effect of IP Telephony on Universal Service as defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Details regarding this meeting will be posted the week of March 9, 1998

Jeff Pulver
President/CEO
pulver.com
jeff@pulver.com