February 15, 2005

Outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell said he thinks the Telecom Act of 1996 is broken, but to completely rewrite the law would be a mistake.

Speaking at a Silicon Flatirons telecom program at the University of Colorado, Powell said a better course of action would be to write an IP statute that will take the industry forward.

Powell said reopening the Telecom Act to a total rewrite could take seven or eight years and would open it up to a wide range of political influences.

He admitted this might leave some companies -- and he specifically mentioned VoIP provider Vonage -- with an early competitive advantage. But he said it would also provide a business reason for incumbents to embrace VoIP.

If an IP statute isn't enacted, Powell suggested it could dampen a renewed interest in telecom from Wall Street. An IP statute would make it more attractive for incumbents to get into such things as VoIP services.

VoIP is only a beginning of what's going to happen with IP networks, he said; next year, video will be the hot application for IP networks.

"The future [of VoIP] is very bright," Powell said. "But it's emblematic of something bigger. We need to get past VoIP."

Powell said he disagreed with much of the talk about a telecom triple play. "It's all data," he said. "VoIP is just the first application."

Source: Wireless Week