STATE COMMISSIONS ASK FCC TO ALLOW USF FEES ON INTRASTATE VOIP

摘要

Kansas and Nebraska regulators asked the FCC to allow states to charge VoIP providers universal service fund fees on intrastate traffic. The states' utility commission asked the FCC to "declare that state USF assessment is not preempted and has not been preempted, so long as the state does not assess interstate revenue." The petition follows suggestions by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The court recently turned aside the Nebraska commission's appeal of a lower court decision banning the assessments, in a lawsuit brought by Vonage. But the appeals court also said that if asked the FCC could issue a declaratory ruling codifying principles the commission expressed in an amicus brief supporting Nebraska's appeal.