IP Transition Must Advance, CES Panel Says
LAS VEGAS -- Advances in the voice services market are moving much faster than the regulatory structure for telephony, and that disconnect must be addressed if consumers are to reap the full benefits of the transition to IP networks, said panelists at the Broadband Unlimited Conference, a day ahead of the CES 2014 show.
USTelecom President Walter McCormick led the conversation about the ongoing transition in a panel titled “ Completing the IP Network Revolution .”
"It's time to leave the wireline-centric regulation of the monopoly voice era behind, focus on the broader social compact between network operators and their customers, and embrace our nation’s highly competitive, consumer driven, Internet-enabled future," McCormick said in a recent blog on the IP transition.
Highlighting the urgency of the issue is a USTelecom data analysis , which shows that nearly three-fourths of consumers have dropped traditional switched telephone landlines in favor of mobile and Internet-based phone options. From 2000 to 2013 traditional providers lost an estimated 62 percent of total switched access lines and 70 percent of residential lines due to intense competition facilities-based competition from wireless and cable companies.
Most people don't think about the network behind the device providing their voice service, but there is a massive change underway. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only 8.5 percent of U.S. households were landline only in the first half of 2013, while 39.4 percent were wireless only.
From a consumer's perspective, most information is traveling through an IP format, said former FCC Commissioner Rob McDowell. However current telecom laws do not recognize the current state of technology. When it comes time to update the laws, a project Congress is beginning this year, McDowell urged that policymakers "look at our laws through the lens of consumers," McDowell said. He said it could take many years before Congress actually passes legislation updating the Telecom Act due to the complexity of the issues involved.
Meanwhile, AT&T has been eager to begin moving forward with the IP transition and last year proposed that the Federal Communications Commission begin trials to test the effects of a full network transition, said Bob Quinn, AT&T senior vice president-federal regulatory. The role for FCC is to oversee the "turning off" of the old network, Quinn said. "There will be an enormous amount of policy concerns involved in doing this, and we need to figure out what this new world will look like."
"We've reached the point where the IP network is superior to the old switched network," said Internet analyst and author Larry Downes. "The policy issue is what do we do about people who have not yet made the switch?"
In a recent blog post , Downes said the transition from the public-switched telephone network to all-IP networks for voice services is a key piece of unfinished business since passage of the 1996 Telecom Act. The 1996 Act includes no provision for retiring the old network or for relieving incumbent wireline carriers from obligations that make no sense in an all IP world.
The fact is – in many cases out of necessity – transformation of our nation’s communications infrastructure is already underway, said David Young, Verizon vice president, public policy. In Verizon's markets where FiOS is offered, fewer than 6 percent have stayed with copper service, Young said.
As the accelerating shift to IP-based services continues to transform the broadband ecosystem, providers and innovators have significant opportunities to deliver on the virtually limitless potential of the Internet. On the floor at CES this week is an exciting showcase of this potential, from the latest technologies to a preview of more good things to come.
