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IP: ACTA petitions FCC on internet telephony
From: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 04:47:27 -0500
FCC PETITIONED TO STOP MISUSE OF THE INTERNET! WASHINGTON, March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The America's Carriers Telecommunication Association (ACTA), a trade association of competitive, long distance carriers today petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop companies from selling software and hardware products that enable use of the Internet to voice long distance services. A growing number of companies are selling software programs with ancillary hardware options that enable a computer to transmit voice conversations. This, in fact, creates the ability to "by-pass" local, long distance and international carriers and allows for calls to be made for virtually "no cost." For example, on-line service providers generally charge users around $10.00 for five hours of access and then around $3.00 for each additional hour. Five hours equals 300 minutes, divided by $10 is 3.3 cents per minute. The average residential long distance telephone call costs about 22 cents per minute or seven times as much. The Internet is a unique form of wire communications. The rapid growth of the Internet is stressing the capacities of the Internet itself. The Internet access points are growing at 50% per month with subscriber growth running close to 30% per month. Individuals are accessing the Internet for more and more business applications such as market research, news, and advertising with corporate web sites exploding, to say nothing about using the Internet for E- mail applications. ACTA submits that it is incumbent upon the FCC to exercise jurisdiction over the use of the Internet for unregulated interstate and international telecommunications services. Long distance and international carriers must be approved by the FCC to operate and must file tariffs before both the FCC and state public service commissions. All of these requirements are stipulated in the Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Technology may once again be surpassing government's ability to control its proper use. However, the misuse of the Internet as away to "by-pass" the traditional means of obtaining long distance service could result in a significant reduction of the Internet's ability to transport its ever enlarging amount of data traffic. Therefore, ACTA has petitioned the FCC to define the type of permissible communications which may be effected over the Internet. America's Carriers Telecommunication Association was founded in 1985 by independent long distance companies to serve the needs of small businesses and to advance the goals of more effective competition. ACTA's membership today includes over 130 companies engaged in providing telecommunications services. CONTACT: Charles H. Helein, general counsel, 703-714-1301, or Jennifer Durst-Jarrell, executive director, 407-332-9382, both of America's Carriers Telecommunication Association
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- IP: ACTA petitions FCC on internet telephony Dave Farber (Mar 06)