Powell doth protests too much, methinks. Christopher Stern is always too interested in pleasing Powell. Does Powell embrace status quo non-regulation of VoIP? - No. Does Powell embrace full common carrier like regulation of VoIP? - No. Does Powell favor some regulation of VoIP - Yes. This breaks a 30 year policy of non-regulation without anyone showing the reality of negative effects. This embraces a regulatory approach without anyone showing the positive contribution of regulations. Regulations arose in telecom as a check to market power of the monopoly. The VoIP players have no market power. Powell will pull VoIP into the Universal Service Program for starters. The USP does little beyond serving ILEC profits. Telephone penetration in the US reached 90% in 1972 and progressed only to 94% by 2002 after 30 years. Price reductions in the competitive areas of the value chain accomplished far more than the USP. The ILEC price increases tended to wipe out price reductions by IXC's. Computing would remain out of reach for folks if we had attempted to subsidize mainframes as the means to achieve affordability. The public interest and social progress goals would be much better served if the FCC maintained a non-regulatory approach. USP represents the thin edge of the wedge for the main game - ILEC desire to get access fees. Dan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Valerie Fast Horse" <vjfasthorse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "'Antidote (E-mail)" <antidote@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 5:36 PM Subject: [antidote] Yet another change of heart: Powell Opposes Internet Phone Regulation > > Here's the latest in VoIP news.... > Powell Opposes Internet Phone Regulation > <snip> > > Having a Change of Heart, Powell Said to Now Favor Regulation of VoIP > http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1069349769.htm > > > If any of this makes sense to you, please let me know.... > > Valerie Fast Horse ________________________________________________________ The antidote list discussion covers issues related to getting beyond monopoly in telecom. Unsubscribe by sending message with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field to antidote-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or via web at http://www.intercommunication.org