FCC Declares Wireless Access
Charges Permissible by Agreement
In
a proceeding in which many of the major carriers on both sides participated,
the FCC issued a declaratory ruling last week that wireless carriers
may collect access charges from IXCs. The issue was originally referred
to the Commission by a federal district court in Missouri last July
in a dispute between Sprint PCS and AT&T.
The
FCC found “that Sprint PCS was not prohibited from charging AT&T
access charges, but that AT&T was not required to pay such charges
absent a contractual obligation to do so.” The FCC deferred to the
court on the issue of whether a contract between the parties existed.
In its ruling, the Commission seemed to indicate that wireless carriers
might refuse to permit IXCs access to their networks if the parties
couldn't agree on access fees.
The
FCC stated that “There are three ways in which a carrier seeking
to impose charges on another carrier can establish a duty to pay
such charges: pursuant to (1) Commission rule; (2) tariff; or (3)
contract.” The Commission indicated that while it has discussed
the issue before, it has never adopted any rules allowing wireless
carriers to unilaterally impose access charges on IXCs.
The
FCC also pointed out that it currently forbears from requiring or
permitting the filing of tariffs for interstate access services
offered by commercial mobile radio service (“CMRS” or “wireless”)
carriers. “It is therefore undisputed that Sprint PCS could not
have imposed access charges on AT&T pursuant to any tariff.”
Concluding
there is no authority under the Commission’s rules or a tariff for
Sprint PCS unilaterally to impose access charges on AT&T, the
FCC indicated that Sprint PCS is entitled to collect access charges
only to the extent that a contract imposes a payment obligation
on AT&T. Though there was no written agreement between AT&T
and Sprint PCS, the FCC pointed out that the law recognizes that
an agreement may exist even absent an express contract. It believes
this issue should be resolved by the court.
The
FCC concluded that:
“Our
order today clarifies requirements under our existing rules. Suggestions
for changes to those rules will be addressed in our pending Intercarrier
Compensation proceeding. Our goal in the Intercarrier Compensation
proceeding is to move toward a unified compensation regime that
eliminates the opportunity for arbitrage due to different regulatory
treatment of different types of traffic. At that time we will
address CMRS carriers’ requests to be placed on equal footing
with wireline carriers, whether through bill-and-keep or some
other compensation mechanism.”
The
FCC added that “[i]n the interim, IXCs and CMRS carriers remain
free to negotiate the rates, terms and conditions under which they
will exchange traffic.” “To the extent that carriers encounter problems
with this regime, we encourage them to raise any concerns in the
pending Intercarrier Compensation proceeding so that we may consider
those concerns in any future compensation regime we may adopt.”
For
more information on carrier access billing, contact us at info@atso.com.
Related
story: Can
Wireless Carriers Collect Access Charges?, 5/16/30
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