Telecommunications Alert: Two State PSCs Ask FCC to Formally Rule That State Universal Service Fund Assessments on VoIP Services Are Legitimate

The Nebraska Public Service Commission and the Kansas Corporation Commission (the PSCs) recently filed a joint petition asking the FCC to declare that states are not preempted from assessing state universal service fund (USF) fees on providers of nomadic voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services.1 The petition follows closely behind a May 2009 Eighth Circuit ruling that applied the FCC’s 2004 Vonage Order2 to preempt the Nebraska PSC’s attempt to apply a state USF charge to Vonage’s nomadic VoIP service.3

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