Today:  Indiana Procedural Schedule for Triennial IUSF Review, Oregon VoIP Proceeding 

Indiana Procedural Schedule for Triennial IUSF Review

The Indiana Regulatory Commission established a procedural schedule for its next Triennial Review of the Indiana Universal Service Fund (IUSF).  Among the issues to be addressed are whether VoIP providers should now be required to contribute to the IUSF and whether IUSF support should be extended to broadband services.   Prepared testimony and exhibits must be filed by May 24, 2018.  Responsive testimony may be filed by June 13, 2018.  If needed an evidentiary hearing will be held on June 29, 2018.

More details are available in Inteserra's Briefing. Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 3/26/18.

Oregon VoIP Proceeding

The PUC adopted staff’s recommendation to initiate the informal stage of a permanent rulemaking to require companies providing services using Interconnected VoIP to contribute to the Oregon Universal Service Fund (OUSF).  Staff was directed to first address the question of the PUC’s  authority over VoIP service providers.  Staff proposes to schedule multiple workshops that will address the subjects of rule language, the OUSF contribution mechanism, updated OUSF forms, methods for contribution calculations, and implementation issues for Interconnected VoIP providers.  Staff expects to propose rules to the PUC by the end of the summer so that the PUC will be in a position to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking in the fall.  Staff anticipates that the formal stage of the rulemaking process should conclude by the end of 2018, with updated rules going into effect in January 2019.

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 The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.