[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26495-26497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12346]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 69
[CC Docket 96-128; DA 98-701]
Implementation of the Pay Telephone Reclassification and
Compensation Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; AT&T
Request for Limited Waiver of the Per-Call Compensation Obligation
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule; clarification and waivers.
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SUMMARY: The Common Carrier Bureau adopted an Order (``Order''), which
clarifies certain requirements set forth in the Per-phone Compensation
Waiver Order. The Order clarifies the following: the data to be used
for the payment of payphone compensation for the fourth quarter of 1997
and first quarter of 1998 for payphones that are not capable of
providing payphone-specific coding digits; the method for allocating
among payors the payphone compensation requirements for payphones
served by non-equal access switches; and the eligibility of payphones
on automatic number identification (``ANI'') lists.
DATES: Effective April 10, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rose Crellin, Formal Complaints and
Investigations Branch, Enforcement Division, Common Carrier Bureau,
(202) 418-0960.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Bureau's Order in
CC Docket No. 96-128 [DA 98-701], adopted on April 10, 1998, and
released on April 10, 1998. The full text of the Order is available for
inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC
Reference Center, Room 239, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The
complete text of this decision also may be purchased from the
Commission's duplicating contractor, International Transcription
Services, 1231 20th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
SUMMARY OF ORDER
Introduction
1. In the Order, the Bureau clarifies certain requirements set
forth in the Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order,1 published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, which was adopted on
April 3, 1998, by the Common Carrier Bureau (``Bureau''). The Per-phone
Compensation Waiver Order granted interexchange carriers (``IXCs'') a
limited waiver of the payphone compensation requirements set forth in
the Payphone Orders 2 to enable IXCs to pay to payphone
service providers (``PSPs'') per-phone instead of per-call compensation
for subscriber 800 and access code calls originated from payphones when
payphone-specific coding digits 3 are not available from
those payphones. The Bureau's Order clarifies the following: (1) The
data to be used for the payment of payphone compensation for the fourth
quarter of 1997 and first quarter of 1998 for payphones that are not
capable of providing payphone-specific coding digits; (2) the method
for allocating among payors the payphone compensation requirements for
payphones served by non-equal access switches; and (3) the eligibility
of payphones on automatic number identification (``ANI'') lists.
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\1\ Implementation of the Pay Telephone Reclassification and
Compensation Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
Memorandum Opinion and Order, DA 98-642 (rel. Apr. 3, 1998) (``Per-
phone Compensation Waiver Order'').
\2\ Implementation of the Pay Telephone Reclassification and
Compensation Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, CC
Docket No. 96-128, Report and Order, 61 FR 52307 (October 7, 1996)
(``Report and Order''); Order on Reconsideration, 61 FR 65341
(December 12, 1996) (``Order on Reconsideration'') (together the
``Payphone Orders''). The Payphone Orders were affirmed in part and
vacated in part. See Illinois Public Telecomm. Ass'n v. FCC, 117
F.3d 555 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (``Illinois Public Telecomm.''); see also
Second Report and Order, 13 FCC Rcd 1778 (1997) (``Second Report and
Order''), pets. for recon. pending, review pending, MCI Telecomm.
Corp. v. FCC, D.C. Circuit No. 97-1675 (filed Nov. 7, 1997); Sprint
Corp. v. FCC, D.C. Circuit No. 97-1685 (filed Nov. 13, 1997);
Personal Communications Industry Association v. FCC, D.C. Circuit
No. 97-1709 (filed Dec. 1, 1997); Illinois Public Telecommunications
Association v. FCC, D.C. Circuit No. 97-1713 (filed Dec. 3, 1997).
\3\ Payphone-specific coding digits provide a method for LECs to
transmit, with the automatic number identification (ANI),
information (coding number or digits) identifying a call as having
been placed specifically from a payphone. Order on Reconsideration,
11 FCC Rcd 21,265-66, para. 64. See Implementation of the Pay
Telephone Reclassification and Compensation Provisions of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, Memorandum Opinion and Order, CC
Docket No. 96-128, DA 98-481 (rel. Mar. 9, 1998) 63 FR 20534 (April
27, 1998) (``Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order'').
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II. Background
2. In the Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order, the Bureau concluded
that the waiver granted therein to allow IXCs to pay per-phone
compensation when payphone-specific coding digits are not available
from a payphone is necessary to ensure that PSPs receive fair
compensation while local exchange carriers (``LECs''), PSPs, and IXCs
transition to providing and receiving payphone-specific coding digits
to identify calls from payphones.
3. Previously, the Bureau had adopted the Bureau Coding Digit
Waiver Order clarifying the payphone-specific coding digit requirements
set forth in the Payphone Orders and granting limited waivers of the
requirement that LECs provide payphone-specific-coding digits to PSPs,
and that PSPs provide payphone-specific coding digits from their
payphones to IXCs, before PSPs can receive per-call compensation from
IXCs for subscriber 800 and access code calls. The Bureau explained in
the Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order that the order serves as a
companion order to the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order, because in the
Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order, the Bureau granted IXCs
4 a waiver of the per-call compensation requirement so they
may pay per-phone instead of per-call
[[Page 26496]]
compensation for the payphones for which the Bureau granted waivers in
the Bureau Waiver Order 5 and the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver
Order.
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\4\ For purposes of paying compensation for compensable calls
and other associated obligations, such as tracking calls, we note
that the term ``IXC'' includes an LEC when it provides interstate,
intraLATA toll service. See Report and Order, 61 FR 52307 (October
7, 1996); Order on Reconsideration, 11 FCC Rcd at 21,270, paras. 74-
75 & 21,278, para. 92. Carriers required to pay per-call
compensation pursuant to the Payphone Orders also are referred to as
``payors'' in this order.
\5\ Implementation of the Pay Telephone Reclassification and
Compensation Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 62 FR
58659, (October 30, 1997) (``Bureau Waiver Order'').
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III. Discussion
A. Payphone Compensation Payments
4. The Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order required that payments for
payphone compensation be remitted at least on a quarterly basis. That
order required that the payment for the October 1997 through December
31, 1997 period be paid no later than April 1, 1998. The Bureau stated
in the Per-phone Waiver Order that because some IXCs will have to
obtain additional information and calculate their per-phone
compensation amounts, these IXCs may need additional time to make the
payments to PSPs for the October 1997 through December 31, 1997 period
for payphone compensation. Thus, the order stated that IXCs may make
this payment no later than April 30, 1998, but must include additional
interest for the period after April 1, 1998, at the rate of 11.25
percent simple interest per year, if the payment was not made by April
1, 1998.
5. In the Per-phone Waiver Order, the Bureau required that pursuant
to the waiver granted therein, with the exception of the compensation
method for those payphones that are able to provide payphone-specific
coding digits, IXCs must use call volume information obtained from
October 1997 through March 31, 1998 (the ``sample period''), to
establish average subscriber 800 and access code call volumes per-phone
to compensate PSPs for calls originated from their payphones during the
fourth quarter of 1997 and the first quarter of 1998 (from October 7,
1997 through March 31, 1998). In the Order, the Bureau clarifies that
if calculating the average call volumes using the six-month ``sample
period'' of data will delay payment for the fourth quarter of 1997
beyond the deadline set forth in that order, IXCs must compensate PSPs
for the fourth quarter of 1997 based on data from the fourth quarter of
1997, and compensate PSPs for the first quarter of 1998 based on data
from the first quarter of 1998 using the same methodology specified in
the Per-phone Waiver Order but revised to accommodate a three-month
rather than a six-month period of call volume and payphone information.
B. Payphone Compensation for Payphones Served by Non-Equal Access
Switches
6. In the Per-phone Waiver Order, the Bureau stated that payphones
served by non-equal access switches must be compensated for 16 calls
per-phone per month, until payphone-specific coding digits are
available for those payphones. Because the number of payphones on non-
equal access switches and the number of calls for which such payphones
should be compensated is small, the Bureau finds it is appropriate to
allocate compensation obligations for these payphones among payors in a
different manner than other payphones. Therefore, per-phone
compensation for PSP payphones served by non-equal access switches will
be based on call distribution data submitted to the Commission by the
LEC Coalition. The LEC Coalition provided data from three Bell
Operating Companies (``BOCs'') in an aggregated form illustrating the
average calls per-phone per month, and the percentage of average calls
per month of the total calls received by each payor. The Bureau finds,
however, compensation due to PSP payphones served by non-equal access
switches should be allocated among the top ten carriers receiving the
highest amount of subscriber 800 and access code calls as indicated by
the LEC Coalition data, because the number of calls for which
compensation is due is so small. Were the Bureau to require all
carriers to compensate payphones served by non-equal access switches,
many carriers would be forced to compensate PSPs for mere fractions of
calls.
7. Therefore, to compensate PSPs for payphones served by non-equal
access switches, each IXC listed in the Order will multiply its
percentage of average calls per month total as stated in the LEC
Coalition data by 16 calls per-phone per month.\6\ That number is the
average number of calls for which that carrier must compensate the PSP
for payphones served by non-equal access switches. That number will
then be multiplied by three, to determine the quarterly call volume,
and then by $0.284 to determine the amount owed.
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\6\ The LEC Coalition data indicates the following percentage
allocation: (1) AT&T: 37.08%; (2) MCI: 25.33%; (3) WorldCom: 12.17%;
(4) Sprint: 10.76%; (5) LCI: 2.83%; (6) Frontier: 2.75%; (7) BOC
weighted average: 2.19%; (8) Allnet Dial 1 Service: 1.14%; (9) Cable
& Wireless: 0.95%; (10) Switched Services: 0.63%. Id.
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8. The Bureau finds that the LEC Coalition data is an appropriate
basis upon which to allocate compensation for payphones served by non-
equal access switches because the compensation due is small.
Notwithstanding the Bureau's decision in the Per-phone Waiver Order
that this data is not appropriate to assess compensation obligations
for all payphones, here this data is representative of the number of
compensable calls made from payphones on non-equal access switches and
is appropriate for allocating each carrier's share of compensation
obligations. Therefore, the concerns raised in reference to using this
data as a compensation method for all payphones are not present here.
C. Payphones on the ANI List
9. In the Per-phone Waiver Order, the Bureau stated that payphones
can receive compensation only for those months that they were in
service. The Bureau Waiver Order stated that payphones appearing on the
LEC-provided lists of payphones are eligible for per-call compensation
even if they do not transmit payphone-specific coding digits. The
Bureau clarifies that as stated in the Bureau Waiver Order, for
payphones that do not provide payphone-specific coding digits, payors
must look to the ANI lists to determine which payphones \7\ are
eligible for compensation. Prior to the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver
Order, LECs were required to provide ANI lists on a quarterly basis.
That order required that LECs make available on request monthly ANI
lists. Thus, for the fourth quarter of 1997 and the first quarter of
1998, payors must use quarterly ANI lists. Thereafter, payors must use
the monthly ANI lists that payors can obtain from LECs. If there are
disputes between IXCs and PSPs regarding whether certain payphones were
in service during a specific period even if they are on the ANI lists,
such disputes should not be a basis for delay of payphone compensation
payments.
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\7\ Bureau Waiver Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 16,390-91, paras. 9-14.
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IV. Conclusion and Ordering Clauses
10. The Bureau concluded in the Order that the clarifications to
the Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order are in the public interest,
because they will further the goals of Section 276 of the Act, and that
PSPs should be compensated for each and every completed call and will
ease the transition to per-call compensation.
11. Accordingly, pursuant to authority contained in Sections 1, 4,
201-205, 218, 226, and 276 of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154, 201-205, 218, 226, and 276, and the
authority delegated by Secs. 0.91 and 0.291 of the
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Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. 0.91, 0.291, the policies and
requirements set forth in the payphone proceeding and the Per-phone
Compensation Waiver Order are clarified.
Federal Communications Commission.
Robert W. Spangler,
Acting Chief, Enforcement Division, Common Carrier Bureau.
[FR Doc. 98-12346 Filed 5-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-U