Pay Tel Asks for Permission to Further Increase Prison Calling Fees
Incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) provider Pay Tel asked the FCC for a waiver of a rule against charging prisoner families ancillary fees. The ban was adopted as part of the 2024 order (see 2407180039) implementing changes required by Congress in the Martha Wright-Reed Act. In late June, in a surprise move, the Wireline Bureau delayed some deadlines in the order until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068).
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Pay Tel asked that it be permitted until that April 1, 2027, deadline to continue to pass through to consumers ancillary fees of up to $3 per call “to recover costs associated with live-agent and automated payments.” Approval of the “requested waiver is a necessary companion to the 2025 Waiver Order,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-62. “It will provide temporary redress to the failure of the 2024 IPCS Order to account for the increased costs associated with the elimination of ancillary fees.” The elimination of the fees “drives up costs to providers associated with receiving payment, setting up accounts, and refunding unused balances -- costs which have not been accounted for in the rate caps established in the 2024 IPCS Order,” Pay Tel said. Parts of the petition were redacted.