[ecrea] CFP: The End of the Phone System

*Call for Paper Proposals*
*The End of the Phone System*
*A by-invitation Experts' Workshop to be held at*
*The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania*
*Philadelphia, PA,* *May 16-18, 2012 *
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the collection of
technologies known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) are the
foundations of communications policy throughout the world. As traffic
and industry activity migrate to Internet protocol-based communication,
wireless networks, video, and other systems, however, the obsolescence
of these infrastructures is in sight. The transition from the phone
system to converged IP-based networks raises major regulatory, technical
and economic questions. Legacy rules do not address the role of
regulation in the coming all-IP marketplace. The Internet was never
designed to serve the many roles that the traditional phone network
plays and there is no plan in place for a managed transition as with
digital television and number portability. The time has come to tackle
these questions.

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University, The Mack
Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania and the Donald McGannon Communication
Research Center at Fordham University are pleased to announce this call
for paper proposals in which "The End of the Phone System" serves as the
main theme. Authors of selected papers will be invited to present them
during a two day (May 17^th and 18^th ) by-invitation workshop designed
to bring together up to a dozen American and international experts and
to be held at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, PA. The workshop will open with a reception on May 16^th .
This Workshop is one of a series of events on "Making Policy Research
Accessible," organized by the IIP, with the support of the Ford
Foundation. Presenters at the workshop will be invited to submit their
completed papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy/
/(www.jip-online.org  <http://www.jip-online.org/>).

Invited topics include, but are not limited to:
· The future of common carriage in an all-IP environment
· The need for, and specifics of, a "date certain" sunset of the PSTN
· Technical and marketplace dynamics of the transition
· Impacts on universal service, disability access, emergency services
(911), and public safety
· Interconnection and interoperability issues
· Interaction of technical standards and public policy
· Network reliability, quality of service, and security in a post-PSTN world
· Wireless as a "baseline" communications mechanism
· International comparisons
· Implications for the National Broadband Plan
· Impacts on rural and other under-served areas
· Treatment of carrier and non-carrier stranded assets
· Consumer protection and device replacement considerations
. Impacts on states and the state/federal regulatory balance
· Transition from the inter-carrier compensation system
Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be
submitted (to_pennstateiip /at/ psu.edu)  <mailto:(pennstateiip /at/ psu.edu)>_ by
February 15, 2012. Please write IIPWDMTWS: YOUR NAME in the subject
line. Accepted presenters will be notified by March 10, 2012.


Thanks

Amit

Amit M. Schejter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Co-director, Institute for Information Policy<http://www.comm.psu.edu/iip>
The College of Communications<http://www.comm.psu.edu>
The Pennsylvania State University<http://www.psu.edu>
Office: 314C Willard
Mail address: 115 Carnegie Building
University Park, PA 16802-5101
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/a/m/ams37/