AT&T, Verizon execs cite 'chilling' effect of murky TDM-to-IP transition regulations

AT&T and Verizon envision a blended wireless and wireline service world, but regulatory executives from both telecommunications companies said that a lack of regulatory clarity in transitioning their legacy time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks to Internet protocol (IP) is a key barrier.

"In 2009, the Federal Communications Commission set some very ambitious objectives, one of which was a complete shutdown of the TDM architecture and merge to IP by 2017," said James Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs for AT&T. "We're here in 2013 and not a single thing that I can discern has been done to advance that objective." Cicconi said that he has gotten little, if any, guidance from the FCC on the next step. And Craig Silliman, senior vice president of public policy for Verizon, said that while the telco has benefited from a "light touch" regulatory approach for advancing its wireless business, legacy voice service regulations have hindered its wireline moves.