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  5. Q & A: CPUC's Susan Kennedy On VoIP: Page 3 of 6
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Q & A: CPUC's Susan Kennedy On VoIP: Page 3 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

A powerful example of this is the position the CPUC staff took on VoIP. California was one of the first states to declare VoIP a telecommunications service under the law. The CPUC staff came to that conclusion without the benefit of a single policy discussion or hearing on the issue. They acted quickly to preserve jurisdiction.

On Feb. 11, the Commission voted to take a more careful look at the issue. An Order Instituting Investigation was opened, and both Commissioner Brown and I are currently serving as Assigned Commissioners. We are responsible for moving the investigation forward, and will bring the findings of the investigation before the full Commission for review later this year.

Networking Pipeline: Is there a middle ground where VoIP providers pay some costs for universal access and intercarrier compensation and how likely are all the players to agree anytime soon?

Kennedy: Here's one idea that might work for the foreseeable future:

Designate any voice service that makes use of North American Numbering Plan resources as a primary voice communication medium. All primary voice communication as such would be subject to 911 requirements, CALEA, and pay into the universal service fund on a per number basis.

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