SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - The outgoing chief regulator of U.S. communications markets on Tuesday said phone calls via the Internet have become a fact of life but warned the emerging industry not to become cocky in its success.
In his last public speech as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites), Michael Powell told Internet-based phone service providers that the industry has been secured against efforts to use regulation to defeat it.
"There is something about the voice over 'net industry that has really taken root, that won't be uprooted," Powell told an audience at the Voice on the Net (VON) conference.
Powell made protecting Internet services from traditional phone regulations a touchstone issue in his eight-year stint at the FCC (news - web sites), first as a Republican member of the commission, and for the last four years, as chairman. But his legacy remains in question if opponents of the free-wheeling Internet industry succeed in bringing it under the existing regulatory regime.
"The future is so bright for voice over the net," Powell said, then warned: "But you won't be a rock star forever."
He said that the industry's growing success made it vulnerable to critics who will increasingly hold it responsible for service outages, security breakdowns or other disruptions.
Powell compared the position of Internet communications to a decade ago when the mobile phone industry became a mainstream communications technology. Flush with success, the wireless industry ignored customer complaints about network reliability and invited increased government regulation, he said.
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