NECA Says FCC Should Address FairPoint Cost-Recovery Bid due to Unclear Rules
The National Exchange Carrier Association backed a FairPoint Communications request for an FCC declaratory ruling on cost recovery the telco said it's due under Connect America Fund (CAF) and intercarrier compensation (ICC) transition rules. "NECA agrees the specific CAF-ICC rules…
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governing such calculations are unclear, and supports issuance of a ruling by the Commission clarifying application of the rules in the particular circumstances faced by FairPoint," said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90 from the group, which administers certain telco cost-recovery pooling mechanisms. "NECA stands ready to revise and refile with the Commission FairPoint’s [eligible recovery] amounts for the periods beginning January 1, 2015 and forward as directed by the Commission, should the Commission agree with FairPoint." FairPoint, which receives USF support as a price-cap telco but is regulated as a rate-of-return carrier under the ICC transition, said rules to prevent double recovery are unjustly preventing it from collecting $4.2 million in annual revenue it formerly received from local switching support (LSS) (see 1512110070). If the FCC disagrees with FairPoint's interpretation, NECA asked it to clarify that FairPoint isn't entitled to recover LSS-related revenue requirements through NECA pools. The FCC invited comments by Tuesday (see 1512180033).