+1 Do not confuse a desire from some party you wish to do business saying, "Our own consultants have said that we shouldn't do business with anyone not compliant with these standards," as a requirement for licensure. Bureaucrats simply like certificates and that's all this really boils down to, a way for consultants and/or politicians to meddle in both ends of what has previously been a pretty open process, creating a solution in search of a problem and adding complexity where it's generally not needed. In fine, the only thing you need in the US to be an ISP is a network. The rest is mostly all about trying to get customers from one section or another of business or of the general public. -Wayne On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 11:54:38AM -0700, Eric Flanery (eric) wrote:
There is no such thing as an 'ISP license' in the US. I have a hard time imagining Texas of all places would have such a requirement.
Depending on what exactly you are doing, there are various and highly varied requirements, such as acquiring a SPIN number for E-Rate, filing FCC 477 if you do broadband, FCC 499 if you do VoIP (CLEC and ETC also apply there), a FRN if you do pretty much anything FCC-related, various sorts of licenses for most radio/microwave systems (excepting part 15 stuff), CALEA, open internet, etc...
COALS _could_ apply _if_ you are running a cable TV system that also delivers data services, but it isn't an 'ISP thing'.
More to the point...
I wouldn't take US legal advice from any consultant not familiar with US law, or really any non-lawyer consultant at all. I wouldn't take it from NANOG either; while it's a tremendous technical resource, it is not your attorney.
There are a number of telecommunications focused law firms out there, with knowledgeable lawyers. It would be a good idea to establish a relationship with one, if you intend to enter the increasingly complex legal minefield of being an ISP.
--Eric
On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 11:24 AM, Dan White <dwhite@olp.net> wrote:
Not familiar with the process, but look at E-rate if you want to provide service to schools, libraries and health providers.
On 05/31/16 13:14 -0500, Lorell Hathcock wrote:
NANOG:
Our owner has hired a consultant who insists that we should have an ISP license to operate in the United States. (Like they have in other countries like Germany and in Africa where he has extensive personal experience.)
I am asking him to tell me which license we should have because I don't know of a license that we are required to have to route IP traffic to end customers.
I am familiar with CLEC status filed with our state. But it is not a requirement to pass traffic.
He is suggesting COALS with which I am completely unfamiliar.
Can anyone tell me if there is a Texas state and/or USA Federal license for a small operator to pass IP traffic from the internet to end users (commercial and/or residential).
I am aware that there are some CALEA requirements of ISPs that seem to kick in once a CALEA request is made, but is that different from a license.
-- Dan White BTC Broadband
--- Wayne Bouchard web@typo.org Network Dude http://www.typo.org/~web/