American Assn. of Paging Carriers (AAPC) urged FCC to rule in int...

has been in dispute with BellSouth over routing of traffic to central office code, known as NXX code, obtained by Sprint to serve customers near Jacksonville. Dispute arose because routing and rating points for that traffic were geographically separate. Under arrangement, which Sprint said was approved by NeuStar numbering administrator, traffic was to be rated in exchange served by independent LEC, Northeast Fla. Telephone (NFT), and not by BellSouth. Arrangement called for rating to be done in NFT’s MacClenny, Fla., exchange before traffic was delivered via BellSouth’s tandem in Jacksonville to Sprint’s switch in Jacksonville. BellSouth since has agreed to interconnect such traffic but still maintains arrangement is improper and has sought rulings from state regulators on issue. AAPC said it filed in support because issue was important to paging carriers that used that so-called “flexible rating” interconnection arrangement where available. However, since such arrangements aren’t widely offered, they “historically have been forced to utilize less efficient and substantially more costly Type 1 end office interconnections,” AAPC said. Action by FCC confirming obligation of ILECs to honor arrangements “when the rating point is physically separate from the delivery point” could enhance efficiency of paging industry, group said. It said BellSouth’s refusal to honor Sprint’s routing and rating instructions was “blunt and inexcusable” violation of FCC rules. National Telecom Cooperative Assn. (NTCA) urged FCC to deny Sprint’s petition (CC Doc. 01-92) and consider issue as part of larger proceeding on intercarrier compensation. NTCA said that issue also was related to “unidentified tandem traffic problem” facing rural telcos and urged FCC to act on that first. Rural telcos aren’t being paid properly for terminating wireless traffic because such traffic passes through Bell company switches before terminating on rural ILEC networks. “The problem is that when the wireless traffic reaches the rural ILEC network it is unidentified,” NTCA said. “The rural ILEC does not know which wireless carrier to bill for terminating access to reciprocal compensation for the unidentified wireless traffic.” FCC should “establish an industry obligation that all traffic flowing into and between networks, regardless of the type of traffic, must be properly identified,” NTCA said.