Cingular Interactive (CI) filed an application for review last we...
Cingular Interactive (CI) filed an application for review last week of the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s (USAC) assessment of universal service fund (USF) contributions from CI. In a filing at the FCC, CI said it owes no past due…
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USF contributions: “The only services CI provided during the time period for which USAC has sent invoices claiming USF contributions are information services, which are not subject to USF contribution requirements,” CI told the FCC. The company said it reported to the USAC in 2002 its services had been reclassified as information services. “The reclassification was based on the FCC’s evolving interpretation of the difference between information services and telecommunications services,” CI said. In part, CI argued USAC lacks authority to make a determination that it is providing telecom services, contending only the FCC can reverse “existing precedent.” CI said the FCC’s Wireline Bureau can take corrective action on the USAC decisions under delegated authority. “CI"s services could be found to constitute telecommunications services only by adopting new policies and overruling or departing from the Commission’s authoritative case law, which cannot be accomplished under delegated authority,” CI said. If a decision that favors Cingular isn’t handed down, CI said it wants the petition to be referred to the full Commission.