The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, whose members often provide wireless as well as wireline service to rural America, is calling for the 107th Congress to repeal the estate tax. The estate-or death-tax was made a permanent part of the tax code in 1916 to raise revenues for World War I and to address concerns over the concentration of the nation’s wealth.
The United States and European Union jointly agreed to support the development of an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to facilitate the growth of cross-border transactions on the Internet. The mechanism is to be impartial, accessible, transparent, quick and at no or low cost to the consumer.
AT&T Corp. has increased the amount it charges consumers to recover payments the carrier must make to the federal universal-service fund. On Jan. 1, the carrier began charging 9.9 percent of their total long-distance and international calls. This is up from 8.6 percent. The Federal Communications Commission proposed in December to collect $1.3 billion in fees from telecommunications carriers during the first quarter of 2001, up from $1.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2000.
An agreement regarding interconnection rates signed last week by Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), AT&T and WorldCom Inc. could lead to the end of a dispute at the World Trade Organization between the United States and Mexico. Telmex agreed to reduce its interconnection rates to $0.0125 per minute. For their part, AT&T’s subsidiary Alestra and WorldCom’s subsidiary Avantel agreed to each pay $67 million plus interest in back interconnection fees. The United States Trade Representative refused to say whether it would withdraw its WTO complaint, but many analysts expect USTR to withdraw the complaint.
Wireline competitors to the Baby Bells are calling on Congress to break the Bells in two, creating separate retail and wholesale entities.
Compiled from news wires and other sources.
