Securus Rejects Proposed Changes to Montana ICS Rate Caps
Securus opposed a proposed change to how Montana calculates rate caps for inmate calling service operators. The Montana Public Service Commission is mulling a staff proposal to align intrastate ICS rates with FCC interim rate caps for interstate services --…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls (see 1707250044). At a PSC hearing livestreamed Tuesday, Securus outside counsel Monica Tranel said that “will not work” because it won’t let the company recover its costs. The PSC’s proposed rate doesn’t account for the cost of site commissions that ICS operators must pay correctional authorities to win contracts, Tranel said. Securus is “agnostic” about the amount of the commissions themselves, she said, but they're costs that must be included in ICS rate calculations. Also, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected FCC use of industrywide averaging to set rate caps, Tranel said. Securus would support the PSC setting a 67 cent interim rate cap while commissioners launch a ratemaking process where stakeholders can provide more information about ICS costs, Tranel said. Commissioner Tony O’Donnell (R) said recovering costs is reasonable, but “using this as a profit center strikes me as being not reasonable.” Commissioner Roger Koopman (R) voiced concern about the amount of the government fees to ICS providers: “It seems the gorilla in the room is site commissions."