Consumer Protection Matters to the VON Coalition…Sometimes
Posted by Michael Romano on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 · 
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If it’s an information service, no blocking. If it’s a telecom service, no blocking. But if it’s something in between, well not so fast . . .
More than 20 appeals of the FCC’s recent USF/ICC reform order have been filed, and it will be fascinating to see the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit sort through all of the concerns raised. Of course, many of the appellants raise common issues, such as challenges to retroactive caps on cost recovery and/or the mandatory drive toward a default zero ICC rate for all switched services. (NTCA teed up both of these issues, among others, in its docketing statement filed with the court.)
But one party’s filing jumped out at me the other day. A docketing statement filed by the VON Coalition presents one straightforward – but quite astounding – issue:
The VON Coalition seeks review of the portions of the Report and Order . . . that impose a “No Blocking” obligation on providers of interconnected Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and one-way VoIP services . . . . Read more