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Nuvio's FCC Filing Leads Charge Against Discriminatory Broadband Practices; Company Urges Use of Title I Authority to Preserve VoIP Competition
KANSAS CITY, Mo. --(Business Wire)-- Sept. 14, 2004 -- Nuvio Corporation, a leading provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), today announced that the company has filed an ex-parte letter with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address and combat potential discriminatory practices by broadband Internet access providers and preserve competition in the VoIP market.
In the comments, Nuvio asserts that broadband Internet access providers, who also offer VoIP services, have economic incentives to discriminate against unaffiliated VoIP providers in favor of affiliated providers. If left unregulated, this discrimination will endanger the vibrant competition that currently exists in the VoIP market and ultimately harm consumers. In particular, Nuvio is concerned that rural ILECs will use discriminatory practices to artificially keep VoIP competition from reaching rural customers.
Broadband Internet access and the VoIP market are vertically related industries. VoIP services depend critically on the quality of the underlying broadband connection linking the customer to the Internet. Broadband providers have the ability to control the quality of service that a VoIP customer experiences. This may lead to discrimination against unaffiliated VoIP providers in order to increase overall profits and retain market share. Therefore, Nuvio urges the Commission to exercise its Title I jurisdiction to preserve competition by prohibiting discriminatory practices of vertically integrated broadband/VoIP providers.
"Broadband providers have nothing to lose and everything to gain from degrading the connection quality of their customers who are using unaffiliated VoIP providers," said Jason Talley, president and CEO of Nuvio Corporation. "The few customers they lose from discrimination is drastically offset by the substantial increase in its VoIP subscribers, market share and revenues from the practice.
"There is ample FCC and court precedent for the proposition that the Commission has Title I authority to regulate information services and is fully justified in exercising its authority to prohibit anti-competitive practices. Such action is both timely and necessary to guarantee a competitive market for VoIP services and keep choice in the hands of the consumer."
About Nuvio
Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Nuvio develops, licenses, and markets VoIP services to businesses, education, consumer and government customers through a growing network of private-label partners. In addition to consumer NuvioVoice products, Nuvio also has NuvioCentrex, a complete IP-based Centrex application for businesses that replaces existing telephony infrastructure. For additional information about Nuvio Corporation, visit www.nuvio.com or call toll-free 866-887-3479. Nuvio, NuvioVoice, NuvioCentrex and the Nuvio logo are trademarks of Nuvio Corporation. All other names and trademarks mentioned above are held by their respective owners and are hereby respectively acknowledged.
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