Minnesota to fight feds over Internet phone companies

• Minnesota utility regulators will try to overturn a recent federal decision barring states from imposing many of their telecommunications regulations on Internet phone providers, a sign states haven't backed down from their fight to lord over this new, cheaper breed of phone service.
• Burl Haar, executive secretary of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, said Tuesday the commission is acting chiefly out of concern over whether Vonage and others Net phone providers can offer emergency 911 calling, which only a few elite operators are capable of providing.
• Minnesota is the second state, so far, to decide to appeal the Federal Communications Commission's November decision, which was hailed as a victory for providers of the relatively new commercial phone service using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
• In late December, California utility regulators filed an appeal of the decision in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• States fear that more calls travel over the unregulated Net will mean fewer over the heavily taxed regular telephone network--reducing tax revenue that supports crucial public services, such as rural phone expansion and emergency call services.
• The FCC and VoIP providers counter that a very light regulatory approach is needed to coddle the developing industry.
• Vonage, which asked the FCC for just such a designation in May, plus Verizon Communications, AT&T and dozens of other commercial Internet providers, have so far enjoyed limited regulation.
• By most estimations, VoIP dialing, which requires a special phone adapter and a broadband connection, will one day become the predominant way a phone call is made, given that its not only cheaper, but comes with features that traditional phone services can't match.
• Jeff Citron, Vonage chief executive, on Tuesday all but predicted Vonage will prevail not only in California and Minnesota, but also in New York, where a federal judge temporarily barred regulators from forcing Vonage to follow telephone rules, and will rehear the matter later this month.