The intercarrier compensation order “plainly” capped...
The intercarrier compensation order “plainly” capped at interstate levels the rate for traffic that originates or terminates in VoIP, representatives from Cablevision and Charter Communications told aides to each FCC commissioner Thursday, said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bmx2kw). Frontier and…
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Windstream had petitioned the Wireline Bureau to clarify that the order only addressed termination fees for intrastate toll traffic that originates in TDM and terminates in VoIP, but did not touch origination fees (CD Feb 14 p13). Cablevision and Charter said it’s “essential” that TDM-to-VoIP traffic be treated identically to VoIP-to-TDM access. “This symmetric treatment was a crucial component of the Order, and allowing TDM-to-VoIP traffic to be assessed at rates higher than VoIP-to-TDM traffic makes no sense as a matter of policy,” the letter said. “Such an asymmetric rate structure would create yet another arbitrary intercarrier compensation distinction and would discourage TDM-based LECs from adopting IP equipment, as doing so would instantly lower the revenues they could collect.” Executives from the NCTA also met with FCC officials Thursday to discuss the issue. “Cable VoIP providers, either directly as competitive LECs or through affiliated or partner competitive LECs, have tariffed and assessed intrastate originating access rates and that they will lose millions of dollars in revenue annually as a result of the Commission in the CAF Order reducing those rates to the interstate access level,” NCTA’s ex parte letter said (http://xrl.us/bmx2kb). NCTA noted that the originating access rate reductions “resulted in no offsetting cost reductions, unlike reductions to terminating access rates, which were offset by corresponding reductions in payments to other LECs to terminate traffic."