Qwest urged the FCC to crack down on traffic pumping by competiti...

engaging in the so-called scheme complained to the FCC that bigger telecom companies are refusing to pay the access charges that have been generated. Traffic pumping is when a small ILEC enters into a partnership with a “free calling service” to attract more of the long distance calling that’s subject to access charges. The small ILEC often jacks up its access rate ahead of time to assure even more revenue from interstate telecom companies like Qwest and AT&T. Qwest said it agreed with a recent letter from AT&T (CD Aug 1 p10) that warned the problem won’t go away unless both ILECs and CLECs are targeted. If the FCC “is successful in reducing incentives of small ILECs to engage in such schemes” the problem will “simply move to CLECs,” Qwest said in an Aug. 15 letter to the FCC. CLEC rates aren’t directly regulated by the FCC so the agency can’t require rate adjustments as it can for rate-of-return regulated ILECs, Qwest said. An alternative would be to declare that traffic to free calling services is not “terminating traffic” and thus CLEC access charges can’t be levied on it, Qwest said. The agency also could require CLECs to certify that they don’t expect access traffic to grow beyond a specified percentage over any 3- month period. If traffic greatly exceeded that level, the FCC could step in, Qwest said. A third approach would be a rule that traffic above a set number of minutes per month wouldn’t be subject to the access tariffs. Also filing on Aug. 15, six rural LECs, both incumbents and CLECs, told the commission they're being “harmed” by big telecom companies’ refusal to pay access charges. Also written in response to AT&T’s July 30 letter, the rural companies said withholding access payments is “unlawful self-help.” No regulatory body has even recognized the term “traffic pumping” and there’s nothing wrong with telephone companies developing ways to increase traffic, they said. It is “a common practice used by all LECs, including AT&T,” the letter said. For example, is it traffic pumping “when AT&T Mobility entered into an arrangement with American Idol to provide the service that allows viewers to vote for their favorite vocalist by text message or cell phone call,” they asked. “Rural carriers have been facing decreasing revenues for years, due in large part to line loss from declining rural populations, and from cellular telephone providers,” including AT&T Mobility, the companies said. “This country’s rural carriers have a choice,” the letter said: “They can offer new services to generate new telecom revenues or they can rely on higher USF subsidies. We believe it is in the best interest of the carriers and the American public if rural carriers attempt to generate more traffic.” The six companies are All American Telephone, Aventure Communications, Farmer’s Telephone of Riceville, Iowa, Great Lakes Communications, Superior Telephone Cooperative and Tekstar. EH