USTelecom Warns of Tough Challenges for Achieving All-IP World
USTelecom will warn the FCC in comments next week that while the benefits of IP interconnection are “clear and compelling,” moving to an all-IP world remains “a daunting task.” The existing regulatory framework for time-division multiplexing (TDM) interconnection “itself poses a significant barrier to IP interconnection and, more broadly, to the transition to an all-IP network,” said an early summary of the comments made available Friday.
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Carriers still have plain old telephone service (POTS) subscribers as a result of carrier of last resort and other requirements and must “continue providing POTS services to an ever-declining customer base,” USTelecom said. Thus they're “understandably reluctant to divert resources” to short-term investments in legacy equipment “to convert those customers’ TDM calls to and from IP for exchange in IP.” USTelecom also noted that the current method of achieving IP-to-IP interconnection involves negotiating two-party contracts. While the negotiations between larger providers “have resulted in agreements that cover a significant percentage of voice traffic, those agreements can be time-consuming to negotiate and implement,” and there are still “far too many” small providers “to replicate this model across the entire ecosystem.”