WASHINGTON-Following the formal release Aug. 8 of intricate interconnection rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission, incumbent local exchange carriers will have nine months following any request for interconnection from a commercial mobile radio services carrier to resolve any differences and to begin providing such service for “just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory” rates.
In a separate statement attached to the order, Commissioner Rachelle Chong wrote, “CMRS providers have suffered past discrimination at the hand of the LECs and by certain state commissions with regard to interconnection matters. Today’s record is replete with examples of LECs that have significantly overcharged CMRS providers for past interconnection. Further, in violation of our rules, our record reflects that in some cases, LECs have refused to pay CMRS providers for calls terminated by LECs on CMRS networks, while other wireline carriers have received such compensation from the LECs.”
Chong continued, “In other instances, LECs have required certain CMRS providers to pay for the traffic the LEC originates and terminates on the system of the CMRS provider.”
The phone book-sized order codified the first of a three-part process that Congress and the FCC hope will create a new, competitive telecommunications marketplace. The other two pieces-access charges and universal service-will be formulated and voted on in coming months.
Once again, the commission refused to categorize CMRS providers as LECs, but it did extend LEC privileges to wireless operators. A separate notice-the CMRS Flexibility Proceeding, now in the comment stage-is polling the industry as to how it should be treated if and when certain wireless carriers apply to provide fixed services, one definition of a traditional LEC.
“We further note that, even if we were to classify some CMRS provides as LECS, other types of CMRS providers, such as paging providers, might not be so classified because they do not offer local exchange service or exchange access,” the FCC added.
As far as CMRS providers are concerned, “our expectation is that the bulk of interconnection agreements will be concluded through arbitration or agreement by the beginning of 1997,” the commission wrote. LECs also will be required to provide physical collocation of equipment necessary to facilitate interconnection or access to any unbundled network element; if the LEC can prove that physical collocation is impossible, virtual collocation will be allowed.
As discussed during the brief overview of the new rules Aug. 1, new prices for interconnection and unbundled network elements will be based on what the commission calls “forward-looking economic cost-pricing methodology,” which translates into pricing determined by how much providing such services will cost LECs in the future instead of how much they charged in the past. “The commission establishes a default range of 0.2-0.4 cents per minute for switching. For tandem switching, the commission establishes a default ceiling of 0.15 cents per minute,” it wrote.
While the FCC said it would allow states to oversee any LEC-CMRS interconnection agreements as outlined in the order, “we reserve the option to revisit this determination in the future.” Like Chong, the FCC as a whole confirmed there had been documented cases in which state commissions had treated CMRS operators in a discriminatory manner in the past. In addition, the commission said it would not tolerate the continuance of any pre-conditions laid on CMRS carriers in order to receive the same treatment as other carriers; Alaska, California and Connecticut were pointed out as states that had put such requirements on wireless carriers.
“We will not permit entry regulation through the exercise of states’ sections 251/252 authority or otherwise. In this regard, we note that states may not impose on CMRS carriers rate and entry regulation as a pre-condition to participation in interconnection agreements that may be negotiated and arbitrated pursuant to sections 251 and 252,” it wrote.
Under the new rules, LECs cannot charge CMRS providers for terminating LEC-originated traffic. CMRS providers also are encouraged to renegotiate any pre-existing agreements with LECs as they relate to non-mutual compensation. “Pending the successful completion of negotiations or arbitration, symmetrical reciprocal compensation provisions shall apply, with the transport and termination rate that the incumbent LEC charges the CMRS provider from the pre-existing agreement applying to both carriers, as of the effective date of the rules we adopt pursuant to this order,” the text reads.
Regarding the new negotiation and pricing schemes, Chong said she would have taken “two additional steps.” She would have “extended the fresh-look opportunity to all CMRS providers-not just those with non-mutual compensation arrangements,” along with allowing CMRS providers to take advantage of the lower interconnection rates put forth by the FCC immediately, instead of having to wait until new interconnection agreements are negotiated.
Bill and keep, an option that will be extended to most carriers, will not be an option automatically extended at this time to CMRS providers, as had been planned originally. In the future, if states can determine that a balanced flow of traffic becomes the norm between wireline and wireless networks, bill-and-keep negotiations will be allowed.
