USTelecom didn’t violate FCC ex parte rules when it filed a lette...
USTelecom didn’t violate FCC ex parte rules when it filed a letter on “traffic pumping,” the FCC ruled. Washington attorney Mark O'Connor charged USTelecom with making a barred ex parte presentation because the June 6 letter was sent after…
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Quest had filed a formal complaint against Farmers & Merchants Telephone on the matter (CD June 18 p9). A formal complaint categorizes a proceeding as “restricted,” with filing barred. The commission ruled that USTelecom was raising the general issue of traffic pumping, not the Qwest complaint. “The ex parte rules do not prohibit discussions of topics of general concern merely because they may also be relevant in some respects to a restricted proceeding,” the FCC said in an Aug. 27 letter to O'Connor and USTelecom. The issue goes beyond the Qwest complaint, said the FCC. The agency has issued two orders involving traffic pumping that have had nothing to do with the complaint proceeding; one bars big carriers from blocking calls to alleged traffic pumpers, the other ordered an investigation of companies accused of traffic pumping, the FCC said. If parties were banned from talking about topics “of general concern” also the topic of investigations, it would “stifle public discussion,” the FCC said.