AT&T suggested three legal paths the FCC could take to retain cur...
AT&T suggested three legal paths the FCC could take to retain current rules governing reciprocal compensation for ISP-bound traffic. In 2002, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asked the FCC to give a statutory basis…
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for a nine-year-old interim regime that exempts ISP-bound traffic from the rules, which require incumbent local exchange carriers to pay terminating competitive LECs for traffic the ILEC originates. In an ex parte letter, AT&T urged the FCC to point to section 251(i) of the Telecom Act, which says nothing in section 251 “shall be construed to limit or otherwise affect” the FCC’s section 201 authority. “That language preserves the [FCC’s] traditional authority to continue setting rates it deems ‘just and reasonable’ under its traditional section 201 authority for jurisdictionally interstate traffic, including ISP-bound calls,” AT&T said. The FCC “can and should also” follow a District of Columbia Circuit Appeals Court suggestion to “justify its current scheme under the bill-and- keep savings clause of section 252(d)(2)(B)(i),” AT&T said. It should also conclude that terminating ISP-bound traffic creates “zero” additional costs “in light of the [enhanced service provider] exemption,” AT&T said.