FCC Rules that VoIP Providers Must Pay Universal Access Fee
By David Walker |
June 22nd, 2006
Comments (1)
Did you bite the bullet and eliminate your land-line in favor of a VoIP solution partly to avoid some of the excessive government taxation that the Bells pass on to you? Well, Digital Trends is reporting that the FCC has ruled that VoIP Providers have to pony up now as well. The Universal Service Fund, which was established to subsidize telephone and emergency services to low-income and rural areas, has been funded by landline telephone networks for years. Now, the FCC is requiring that VoIP providers that provide services that interconnect with standard telephone networks will have to pay a hefty 7% of their revenue into the USF.
Be sure, this new pilfering will be passed down to consumers, helping to close the financial gap between standard telephone network providers and VoIP providers. The levy can be adjusted every quarter as well, giving the government the ability to tax VoIP providers until they’re no longer at a price advantage over the baby Bells. You can bet the farm that lobbyists in Washington working for the Bells are pushing for a bigger percentage than 7% right now. The ruling is probably due in part to the expiration of DSL providers funding the USF starting in August 2006. In contrast, the levy against wireless operators stands at about 4% right now, shining a scrutinous light on the 7% tax hammered on VoIP providers.
June 27th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Why should I pay a universal access fee via Vonage, when I already pay a universal access fee via Qwest on my naked DSL?