Defeated South Dakota Legislator Notes Federal Move on Switched Access Fees
Concern at the national level about switched access fees is likely to outlive the defeat of her bill to outlaw fee splitting in South Dakota, state Rep. Deb Peters (R-Hartford) told us. “The national regulators have begun to move on the issue of access stimulation,” Peters said Friday in an e- mail. “There have been letters from the U.S. Congress to the three South Dakota companies requesting information.”
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Peters’ bill went down 37-31 in the state House of Representatives earlier this month, around the time the U.S. House Commerce Committee sent letters South Dakota local exchange carriers, Peters said. The letters, dated Feb. 16, pose questions on switched access fees, National Exchange Carrier Association pool participation and federal USF contributions, among many others. The letters invoked earlier exchanges between the committee and Qwest, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon on the subject, and raise the specter of pornography that has been invoked by incumbents in efforts to rein in on the practice sometimes called “traffic pumping.” The LECs have until March 8 to respond and until March 1 to declare whether they'll answer the committee queries voluntarily.
“There have been allegations that several of the companies engaged in practices designed to increase call volumes and access charge revenue do so by providing free calling services for indecent or pornographic content,” wrote Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and colleagues Ron Boucher (D-Va.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). Boucher chairs the telecommunications subcommittee. Stupak chairs the subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
Lawyers for the LECs have attacked incumbents’ flying of the smut flag as a red herring intended to incite suspicion about completely legal activity and camouflage incumbents’ efforts to avoid paying their bills. The Commerce Committee wrote to Splitrock Properties, Northern Valley Communications and Sancom, Inc. -- all South Dakota companies with interests in LECs there. In a press release issued the same day, the committee chiefs said they had sent similar letters to 24 LECs in several states pursuing the same line of inquiry.
In pushing her bill Peters stressed the need to protect rural phone subsidies at the state level to preempt federal action that might go against South Dakota residents’ interests, she said: “Unfortunately or fortunately the giant has started to move and we may not like the result.”