Charter, Minn. PUC Continue Court Battle Over VoIP
Charter and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission fired more shots at each other’s motions for summary judgment before Jan. 9 oral argument in federal court on whether the PUC may regulate the cable operator's VoIP service as a telecom service…
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(see 1611250026). Charter’s complaint alleged the PUC overstepped its authority by imposing on VoIP services state regulations for traditional phone services. The case began in March 2013, when the company transferred 100,000 Minnesota customers to an affiliate that provided VoIP phone service that wasn't certified by the PUC. The agency said interconnected VoIP is a telecom service subject to state regulation, but the operator and the Voice on the Net Coalition said it’s an information service subject only to FCC regulation. In a Friday reply (in Pacer), the PUC urged the court to grant its motion and dismiss all of Charter’s claims with prejudice. Charter replied (in Pacer) that the court should grant the company’s motion against the PUC and follow four other federal courts that held interconnected VoIP is an information service.