O'Rielly Urges Classifying VoIP, Text Messaging as Interstate, Information Services

VoIP and text messaging should be classified as "interstate, information services, freeing them from unnecessary federal and state requirements," FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly told the Cloud Communications Alliance Tuesday night, according to remarks posted Wednesday. "Both services are extremely popular with consumers and businesses, and there is abundant competition both from legacy providers and new over-the-top players to meet the market’s needs. Nonetheless, both services continue to be the target of what I’ve called regulation by analogy." FCC failure to classify VoIP as an information service while subjecting it to some telecom regulation "only served to encourage mission creep by prior Commissions and regulatory ambitious states," some of which are trying to regulate VoIP, he said. A Minnesota case "is being litigated in the courts, and I appreciate that the Chairman and Office of General Counsel were willing to work with me on an amicus filing explaining the legal and practical problems with Minnesota’s approach," he said, lamenting that the agency "must divert staff resources to stamp out efforts that are contrary to the law and common sense." Charter Communications is squaring off with the Minnesota regulator (see 1806120026). O'Rielly said more deregulatory efforts are needed, including in a biennial review of telecom rules to be launched later this year. He said there are areas where the FCC needs to be proactive, including freeing up spectrum for commercial use in high-band and mid-band frequencies. "My focus has not only been on concluding the so-called Citizens Band Radio Service at 3.5 GHz, but also reallocating the C-Band spectrum for additional wireless uses," he said. "This will provide large slices of spectrum for licensed services at 3.7 to 4.2 GHz, while permitting us to allow unlicensed services at 6 GHz. After some initial resistance internally and externally, it is great to see everyone come around to this line of thinking."