The feds have ordered cable operators to give up a piece of their VoIP action. The Federal Communications Commission ruled earlier this week that cable VoIP is subject to regulatory fees.

The key passage: "we observed that providers of interconnected VoIP16 services are now required to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, and we tentatively concluded that the interconnected VoIP providers should also pay regulatory fees….based on revenues reported…at the same rate as interstate telecommunications service providers."

The fees are based on a percentage of revenue, including revenues generated from bundled services. The FCC collects regulatory fees to fund its operations. It should be noted that e911 fees are a different animal; collected by the service provider from customers in order to provide e911 as required by the FCC.

For more:
- The 75-page FCC order is available here [1]
- Ted Hearn of Multichannel News covers the FCC order here [2]
- There's an e911 101 in The New York Times here [3]