Interstate Access Charge Proceedings for July 2013

Compiled by Andrew Regitsky, President, Regitsky & Associates

Docket No. 13-5 – Comments Filed on FCC Policy Task Force Proposal for Industry Trials to Transition to IP Network

Numerous comments were filed on July 16, 2013 regarding the FCC’s Technology Transitions Policy Task Force (Task Force) proposal to establish market trials to determine the appropriate policies to promote investment and innovation while protecting consumers, promoting competition and ensuring that emerging all-Internet Protocol (IP) networks remain resilient...

The Conference Group v. FCC - DC Circuit Court Finds FCC Can Set Industry-Wide Precedent without Rulemaking

A recent court decision has not received any publicity at all, but may have a larger impact on the future of FCC regulation than any other recent court case. We are talking about the July 2, 2013 opinion by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to find that the FCC was correct in ordering all audio bridging companies to contribute to the universal service fund (USF) without holding a rulemaking proceeding...

FCC Docket 10-90 - Rural ILECs Defend Current Authorized Rate-of-Return

Industry comments were filed on July 25, 2013 regarding whether the Commission should prescribe a new authorized rate-of-return (ROR) for the hundreds of small rural ILECs that are still regulated using the antiquated ROR methodology. The comments were in response to the Commission’s May 16, 2013 Public Notice which stated that a Commission preliminary analysis indicated that the current authorized ROR of 11.25 percent should be reduced to no more than 9 percent and probably should be in the range of 7.39 to 8.72 percent. As expected, rural ILECs have reacted extremely negatively to these proposals...

Read the complete text of the FCC updates here (a PDF will open).