FCC to consolidate Comcast VoIP issues with existing processes

Officials over at the FCC think Comcast VoIP issues should be considered as a part of the agency's ongoing proceedings. Comcast has been under FCC scrutiny since mid-January over how its updated network management practices could affect VoIP services - except for its own.

The FCC launched a probe in mid-January to look at a discrepancy between how Comcast Digital Voice - Comcast's VoIP service - is handled as compared to how other VoIP services might be affected by the company's network management procedures. As a part of the inquiry, the FCC wanted to know why Digital Voice shouldn't be treated just like any other telecommunications services for regulatory purposes.

In its response at the end of January, Comcast said that its network management practices didn't have relevance to its own voice service because its Digital Voice offering doesn't go over the public Internet. And since the FCC was running a separate proceeding on intercarrier compensation, couldn't the FCC allow Comcast to address questions as a part of that process?

Last week the acting chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and the FCC's active general counsel seemed to agree with Comcast's suggestion that its particular issue with how VoIP is classified for regulation would fit in with other ongoing work at the agency, as would the pending discussion on intercarrier compensation issues as related to the kinds of VoIP.

For more:
- Multichannel News discusses FCC's view of Comcast's suggestion. Post [1]

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