LECs Push FCC Not to Let IXCs Use Access Tariffs to Seek Wireless IntraMTA Refunds

Frontier Communications also urged the agency not to take any actions inconsistent with a 2015 U.S. district judge's ruling that resolved "key issues" in a way that upholds their positions (see 1511200070), said their filing posted Monday in docket 14-228 on discussions with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and Wireline Bureau staffers. They said the FCC could help by providing further guidance on mechanisms that might be used prospectively to allow IXCs (long-distance providers) "to route commingled traffic through Feature Group D trunks, while treating intraMTA wireless traffic as exempt from access charges," though the need for such new mechanisms has decreased due to the ongoing "phase-out of terminating access charges" and new interconnection arrangements. If the FCC nevertheless seeks to devise such mechanisms, the LECs asked that it be done through a new rulemaking, not in response to their pending declaratory ruling petition. Verizon, Sprint and Level 3 again asked the FCC to deny the LEC petition and "reiterate that the intraMTA rule applies without exception to all intraMTA traffic exchanged between local exchange carriers and wireless carriers, and reaffirm that intraMTA wireless traffic is not subject to access charges -- regardless of whether an intermediary interexchange carrier or other provider is involved in routing, and regardless of the facilities on which the traffic is routed," said a June 12 filing.