The FCC denied BellSouth and Arya International petitions seeking...
The FCC denied BellSouth and Arya International petitions seeking reconsideration of universal service fund contribution obligations the FCC set in 1999. That order, made on remand from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, established a “limited international revenues…
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exemption.” LIRE stipulates that carriers with interstate revenue comprising less than 8 percent of combined interstate and international revenue base their USF contribution only on interstate revenue. In December 1999, BellSouth and Arya filed for reconsideration of the order. Last week, the FCC rejected Arya’s argument that the 8 percent threshold was “arbitrary and capricious.” In 1999, 8 percent “provided sufficient margin of safety based on the contribution factors,” and fixing that figure kept the agency USF contribution factor “specific and predictable,” the FCC said. In 2002, the FCC raised the exemption threshold to 12 percent to reflect market changes, it added. The FCC also rejected BellSouth and Arya demands that the FCC refund all USF contributions collected from Jan. 1, 1998 to Oct. 31, 1999, and based on intrastate or international revenue exceeding the 8 percent LIRE. “Requiring refunds of this magnitude would compel” increased USF fees and might not be feasible, the FCC said. “That would cause manifest injustice for today’s consumers, as they shoulder higher bills while bearing no culpability for the refund problem.”