Volume II

Issue : 9: April 29, 2004

• The Use of Video Surveillance by Employer Violates PIPEDA
• U.S. Court Upholds Prison Term in Online Pharmacy Case
• U.S. Appeals Court Finds Registered Trade Mark Generic for Purposes of ACPA
• FCC VoIP Ruling Could Cost AT&T Billions
• Canadian Phone Companies Protest CRTC's VoIP Opinion
• Sex.com Dispute Finally Settles
• German Open Source Proponent Obtains Order Enforcing GNU General Public License
• U.S. Court of Appeals Overturns Decision on Disgruntled Homebuyer's Website
• Court Upholds Enforceability of Clickwrap Agreement that Was Accepted Under Protest
• Criminal Charges Filed for First Time under U.S. Spam Legislation

Home > Volume II > Issue 9: April 29, 2004 > FCC VoIP Ruling Could Cost AT&T Billions

FCC VoIP Ruling Could Cost AT&T Billions

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (the "FCC") ruled that the long-distance carrier AT&T must pay traditional local access charges to complete Internet phone calls. The FCC disagreed with AT&T's argument that when long-distance calls travel partially over the Internet, it should not be required to pay the access fees to local landline companies. However, the FCC stated that its decision will affect only the VoIP calls that begin and end on the public switched telephone network. The decision will have a significant financial impact on AT&T; the company stopped paying some of the access fees two years ago, and analysts estimate that it could owe up to several billions of dollars in deferred fees to local phone companies.

For more information, visit:
http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5197204.html
For a copy of the FFC ruling, visit:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-97A1.pdf