FCC "acted swiftly" to stop VoIP blocking
Author: IT Observer Staff
Sunday, 06 March 2005, 20:49 GMT
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced a telephone company to stop blocking Voice-over-IP calls of its customers and pay a $15,000 fine.
"We saw a problem, and we acted swiftly to ensure that Internet voice service remains a viable option for consumers," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell in a statement.
The company, North Carolina-based Madison River Communications, had blocked more than 200 customers in Southeast and Midwest from placing VoIP calls via Vonage, a VoIP service provider.
"We're very pleased that the commission took very swift action to address the concerns that we had regarding an Internet service provider's ability to block our customers' communications with each other," Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron said. "This sends a clear message that port blocking will not be tolerated."
VoIP services rely on the Internet infrastructure and are therefore a lot cheaper than traditional telephony. Consequently, telecommunications companies cannot effectively compete with VoIP service providers and instead tend to artificially limit customers' access to them.
It remains to be seen whether the FCC ruling is a one-time act or part of a broad campaign.
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