ISPCON attendees packed a room at an early morning session to learn about the policy issues they face.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [November 22, 2005]

It was an early morning session at ISPCON, but the room was packed. There's plenty of legal changes and proposed legislation to learn about, so The 10 Biggest Policy Issues Facing Your Business and What to Do About Them was a real draw.

Panelists Jason Talley, CEO of Overland Park, Kan.-based Nuvio, the VoIP provider lobbying actively to influence the FCC; Kris Twomey, CLEC lawyer and principal of the Law Offices of Kris Twomey (LOKT), based in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.-based e-commerce and copyright lawyer David Snead each spoke to their area of expertise.

The Brand X fallout
Twomey (pronounced "too-mee") began the presentation, talking about the Brand X case (see Brand X Reactions Split Up The Middle). "Two strikes were quickly called against ISPs in the last two months," he said.

Part of the problem is the FCC's data on competition (see Flawed FCC Data Guarantees Flawed Policy). "The FCC really believes that intermodal competition exists," said Twomey. "They believe that there's cellular broadband, unlicensed wireless, broadband over power lines (BPL), and cable, all in addition to DSL. The FCC believes that nobody will invest in services if they have to share, but ISPs know that the RBOCs charge ISPs higher prices than they charge their affiliates."

That's why retail DSL prices are lower than wholesale DSL prices.

But there was an even more dangerous threat to the ISP (and CLEC) business models, previewed piecemeal around the country: see, for example, No UNEs in Omaha.

Speakers said that over time, the tariff system will be eliminated by FCC NPRM (this is a 133 page .pdf file). The speakers warned that the only thing preventing the RBOCs from eliminating CLECs entirely is the merger proceedings: SBC's takeover of AT&T and Verizon's takeover of MCI.

"Basically," Twomey concluded, "the FCC is basing their idea of competition on things that don't exist, such as BPL technology.

Peering disputes
Attendees wanted to know how the Cogent-Level 3 dispute might affect regulation.

Twomey said that while two pieces of competing legislation have been proposed, he expect neither to pass. "The FCC and Congress are taking a 'don't fix it until it's broken' attitude."

Snead said that ISPs would prefer that the internet be less regulated rather than more.

The Times To Come
Twomey warned that the federal government is ready to end UNEs and force ISPs to pay special access rates. He said that every time he spoke to Ensign's advisor, the advisor made a "hand tilt" gesture and accused Twomey of advocating an unfair playing field.

Ensign's ignorance is breathtaking. When he introduced the bill in July (see Ensign Files Bill To Deregulate Both Phone And Cable Markets) he compared Skype VoIP, which is legal, to music file sharing, which is illegal:

"Skype has 40 million customers worldwide. Ten million are in the U.S. alone. This is a service that is siphoning traffic away from carriers [in the United States], just like what happened to the music industry with peer-to-peer file-sharing."

Twomey strongly urged ISPs to educate their local congressional representatives. "Talk to your representative, especially if they're on the commerce committee."

The membership list shows two pro-Bell Congressmen, Barton and Dingell, at the top, one from each party.

— End

 

1. ISPCON Policy Panel: The Government and the Wires

2. ISPCON Policy Panel: The FCC and WISPs

3. ISPCON Policy Panel: VoIP and that Duck

4. ISPCON Policy Panel: Porn, Privacy, and Due Process