AT&T Brings Internet Telephone Service to New Jersey

AT&T Brings Internet Telephone Service to New Jersey

The flood gates are opening to VOIP. AT&T and Verizon;s entry into the VOIP market will validate the technology and within 5-10 years it will replace wireline connections for the majority of residence customers. As broadband penetration increases, so will VOIP. It's a natural evolution.

Goodbye circuit switched systems. The pace of this migration will have to match the depreciation cycles of the PSTN so as to keep the providers financially healthy.

Federal and state regulators can foster or slow the pace. Now we'll see what lawmakers do with taxation. Is VOIP a taxable service? Legislators should resist taxing it.

More detail on the AT&T offering in NJ can be found here.

I note the salve applied by the AT&T regulatory person pushing for continued action on Unbundled Network Elements (UNEs) to hamstring Verizon. Recall that a Federal appeals court recently ruled that the patchwork of state regulation on this issue is illegal. AT&T is disingenuous on this matter, to say the least. In any event , UNEs are dead meat. VOIP wins the race within the next 5-10 years. No doubt about that in my mind.