We are moving steadily toward an all Internet protocol (IP) Network. The latest proof comes from CenturyLink. In response to the FCC’s January 2014 “Technology Transitions” Order (in Docket 13-5), which launched a variety of experiments and data collection initiatives to evaluate how the industry will be affected by the network evolution, CenturyLink has proposed the second major IP trial:

CenturyLink proposes a service trial in a geographical area in Las Vegas, Nevada roughly encompassing twelve wire centers…to explore the impacts of the [Time Division Multiplexed] TDM-to-IP transition on business end users and providers exchanging Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) traffic through commercially negotiated connectivity utilizing Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). CenturyLink will be joined in this trial by two CLECs, Bandwidth.com, CLEC, LLC, and its affiliates (Bandwidth) and Inteliquent. The trial will enable these three providers to work through operational, technical, and logistical issues associated with the transition, generating valuable information for the Commission and other interested parties to ensure that the “enduring values” identified in the Technology Transitions Order continue to be fulfilled (CenturyLink Petition at pp. 2-3).

The CenturyLink proposal follows the initial transitions experiment begun by AT&T. AT&T will test the TDM to IP transition in West Delray Beach, Florida and Carbon Hill, Alabama. Please see our March 7, 2014 blog for more details about the AT&T trial.

As part of its proposal, CenturyLink requests that the Commission issue a Declaratory Ruling to confirm that its participation in this trial will not in any way affect its preexisting regulatory obligations—or create any new ones—related to the exchange of voice traffic with other providers

There are two important features of CenturyLink’s proposal for the industry:

• CenturyLink asserts that it has explored various interconnection models that could be used for the coming IP network, ranging from a Point of Connection (POC)-per-LATA approach similar to that generally used for TDM interconnection today to the regional approach already utilized in peering arrangements for exchanging IP data traffic. CenturyLink has concluded that a state-based model, employing one POC per state for the exchange of VoIP traffic, provides the best balance of efficiency and redundancy, to the benefit of consumers…and IP service providers. Under this model, CenturyLink’s non-ILEC subsidiary, CenturyLink Communications, LLC, will use its national network to link these connectivity points and exchange traffic with other providers. 
• In the trial CenturyLink and the participating CLEC will use commercially-negotiated VoIP connectivity arrangements to exchange VoIP traffic. While these arrangements are currently being negotiated, there is no indication that the Telecom Act’s section 251TDM interconnection requirements will apply.

The troubling aspects of both the CenturyLink and the AT&T proposals is that the Commission’s failure to provide any guidance whatsoever enables the ILECs to choose an interconnection model (i.e., one point of interconnection per state) and negotiate an interconnection agreement unfettered by any regulatory requirements. As we have said many times here before, if the IP network is going to be completely unregulated, the ILECs market power will enable them to negotiate favorable interconnection agreements for themselves and also assure that inter-carrier compensation is stacked in their favor.

On November 21, 2014, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which does begin to address some transition issues: Specifically, the Commission stated:

Carriers seeking to discontinue a service used as a wholesale input should be required to provide competitive carriers equivalent wholesale access going forward, and; 

It will update its rules so that competitive carriers receive sufficient notice of when copper networks are being shut off, so that they can continue to serve their customers effectively.

Unfortunately the NPRM fails to discuss network architecture or interconnection regulation in the IP world. How sad that the Commission has spent almost all of 2014 wrestling with fixing an Internet regulatory system that is not broken, while virtually ignoring a telecommunications regulatory system that is rapidly becoming obsolete and desperately needs to be updated.

By Andrew Regitsky, CCMI

Learn more about the TDM-IP Transition with CCMI's upcoming free webinar on Tuesday, December 9th and 2:00 pm EST.