FCC Grants Internet Phone Access. Rural Carriers must open local lines

Rural telephone companies must allow carriers such as Verizon Communications to use local lines to connect Internet-based calls, U.S. regulators said yesterday.

The Federal Communications Commission ruling, in granting a petition filed by Time Warner Cable, "will enhance consumers’ choice for phone service by making clear that cable and other [Internet phone] providers must be . . . allowed to put calls through to other phone networks," FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said in an e-mailed statement.

By Molly Peterson
Bloomberg News

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101695.html