Alarm Company Opposes Legislation Targeting TDM-to-IP Transition

AT&T’s plans for TDM-to-IP transition trials are clashing with efforts to de-regulate telecom -- an initiative the company also has been championing.

Consumer advocates and ADT, one of the nation’s largest alarm companies, are asking Kentucky lawmakers to delay passing a telecom deregulation bill until the TDM-to-IP transition trials, to be overseen by the FCC, are completed, reports Public News Service. According to an AT&T proposal, TDM-to-IP transition trials would begin in late 2014 or early 2015 and run into 2017. The Kentucky bill would allow major phone companies to stop providing landline service in parts of the state, Public News Service reports. If the bill were to pass, consumers would have to rely on VoIP over a broadband connection or a cellular service. And if that were to occur, “there is some likelihood that alarm systems and/or medical alert systems may not be able to send signals to ADT’s monitoring centers,” ADT Vice President of Industry Relations Steve Shapiro told Public News Service.