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  5. Q & A: CPUC's Susan Kennedy On VoIP: Page 2 of 6
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Q & A: CPUC's Susan Kennedy On VoIP: Page 2 of 6

California PUC commissioner Susan Kennedy says VoIP shouldn't be shoehorned into existing regulatory boxes. Instead, she says VoIP should be addressed by new, national broadband policies that would promote business
April 01, 2004

Susan Kennedy: The FCC's action on VoIP was a critical step. The message to state regulators was clear: Do not attempt to contort existing regulations to fit this new technology.

Some commissioners, both state and federal, expressed concern that the FCC was stepping in prematurely, acting before fully understanding the implications of VoIP on a host of public policy issues.

But in my view, the FCC acted not one minute too soon, and in doing so, prevented states from digging in with efforts to somehow trap this new technology in one of the existing regulatory boxes.

Networking Pipeline: California had considered regulating VoIP, then seemed to be leaning the other way, and now seems ready to regulate again. Why the switches?

Kennedy: The primal instinct of most regulators is to preserve their jurisdiction, and the pull of that instinct is so strong that it often acts like blinders -- impeding their ability to see anything that is off the path of achieving that goal.

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