One part of the effort to revamp the USF and intercarrier...
One part of the effort to revamp the USF and intercarrier compensation system will examine and learn from the actions that states have taken to reduce intrastate access rates, said Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett on the FCC’s blog. By…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
taking actions to revamp the rates, emphasizes further the FCC’s goal of modernizing the intercarrier compensation system for broadband, reducing incentives for regulatory “gamesmanship” and paving the way to lower long distance and wireless rates for consumers, she said. Gillett noted that Tennessee recently passed a law (CD Mar 21 p7) that will gradually reduce intrastate rates to interstate levels, and Washington state recently required CenturyLink to reduce its intrastate access rates to Qwest’s levels as a condition of the companies’ merger approval. Tennessee and Washington joined more than a dozen states, including Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas, that are “leaders on ICC reform,” she said. She urged other states to take similar action, saying revamping USF and ICC requires cooperation between the FCC and the states.