Commission denies Time Warner certificate for VoIP

Time Warner is alleging that Idaho is creating barriers againstcompetition after the Idaho Public Utilities Commission refused toissue the media giant a certificate to provide wholesale VoIPservices in Idaho.

Time Warner wants to provide VoIP services, also known as voiceover internet protocol, to commercial customers who sell toresidential and small-business customers. Time Warner asked thecommission to grant it a Certificate of Public Convenience andNecessity, or CPCN, which makes it easier for telecommunicationcompanies to connect with local networks and obtain telephonenumbers.

But the PUC, which regulates all utilities in Idaho, saidearlier this month that it will not reconsider a February orderstating that Time Warner does not need a certificate to providewholesale telecommunications services in Idaho.

The commission said it doesn't have the authority to grant thecertificate because Time Warner does not intend to provide servicesdirectly to residential or small-business end-users. Instead, itwill provide services on a purely wholesale basis.

Local telecommunications companies that provide servicesdirectly to consumers - such as Qwest, Frontier Communications -must obtain a CPCN to provide service to end-users in Idaho.

Certificate

Time Warner alleges that without a certificate, it won't be ableto interconnect with local exchange services and it will havedifficulty obtaining telephone numbers for its wholesale customersfrom a national agency that allocates numbers. The company plans tointerconnect with Qwest in southern Idaho and FrontierCommunications in northern Idaho. 

Federal law requires telecommunication carriers to interconnectwith competitors. The incumbent companies have a duty to negotiatein good faith and interconnect with any requestingtelecommunications carrier, the commission said.