Proposed VoIP outage reporting would cost operators 'hundreds of million of dollars'

A proposal by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau mandating VoIP outage reporting requirements is drawing fire from cable and telephone trade organizations, which contend the new requirements "significant economic burdens" on ISPs and other VoIP providers.

The current outage reporting regulations apply only to wireline phone service.

But as phone companies continue to transition to voice-over-internet calling and as cable companies and other VoIP providers become more popular, the FCC is looking for ways to regulate the new technology.

The American Cable Association, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, CTIA-The Wireless Association and other associations last week met with FCC representatives to discuss the proposed requirements, suggesting reporting be voluntary and the "the technical realities of broadband networks" be taken into consideration.

The groups said "broadband service providers and VoIP providers do not routinely monitor network performance at the level of granularity that would be required by the rules proposed in the notice, and it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars for the industry to implement such a regime, costs that will ultimately have an impact on consumers."

The FCC voted unanimously last May to propose requiring the outage reporting, although Republican commissioner Robert McDowell concurred in part, saying he had issues with the FCC's authority to support the proposed regulation.

For more:
- see this MCN article

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