Sen. Wonderling Bill Prohibiting Government Intrusion Into VoIP Passes Senate 

HARRISBURG – On July 2nd, the Pennsylvania Senate approved legislation (SB 1000) introduced by state Senator Rob Wonderling (R-24th) preventing any state government agency from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. VoIP allows telephone calls to be made via a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular phone line.  Use of VoIP services grew by more than 500 percent in the last two years. 

In 2007, roughly 25 percent of the country will be VoIP-enabled with the VoIP market exceeding 10 million subscribers.  Of that, cable providers account for approximately 71 percent of the market. Increasingly, cable and telephone companies are offering VoIP as part of a package of services, including broadband, video, and telephone. 

While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has barred states from imposing telecommunication regulations on VoIP providers due to the current inability to separate the interstate and intrastate components of VoIP services, the FCC has done so only on VoIP-to-VoIP calls.  Recent actions by state regulatory agencies and pending legal proceedings are raising concerns that the FCC order will be overturned.

As Chairman of the Pennsylvania Senate Communications and Technology Committee, Senator Wonderling said, “It is imperative that we establish a fair and free-market playing field so that companies doing business in Pennsylvania can continue to provide the services that people have come to expect without overly burdensome government regulation.”

Senate Bill 1000 would prohibit only the regulation of VoIP services, not landline services, but would enable compensation of E-911 fees, Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) fees, and Universal Service Fund fees as well as payment of any switched network access rates or other intercarrier compensation rates. 

The measure passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on June 29, 2008.