It’s a slow afternoon here, so I had a little time to consider one mind-numbing regulatory aspect of the growing number of group messaging and conferencing startups.
Eventually when these companies (Fast Society, Group.me, et. al) start charging for their services—most of them don’t now—my understanding is that they will be required to file an FCC Form 499.
Ok, so it was a very slow day.
Remember Form 499? That’s where providers of telecommunications for pay—and that includes call conferencing services—tell the FCC about their VoIP revenues apportioned to interstate connections.
And then our regulators calculate how much money is owed to the Universal Service Fund kitty.
No one said this is necessarily an easy thing to figure out, what’s interstate vs. intrastate VoIP. The merciful FCC does give some leeway in this matter.
In any case, I was a little surprised when recently launched group conferencing service Bridg.me announced they would charge 5 cents per minute after a trial period.
This project was pitched just a week ago at NYC Startup Weekend, but I wonder if their emerging accounting systems are up to the task of dealing with Form 499.
I’ll check back at the FCC 499 database of filers later in the year to see whether they’re dealing with this headache.
Related articles
- NYC Startup Weekend Finale (technoverseblog.com)
- Google on USF Reform: Bill and Keep (technoverseblog.com)
