Federal Communications Commission FCC 00-194
Federal Communications Commission FCC 00-194 Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matters of ) ) TSR WIRELESS, LLC, et al.,) ) Complainants, ) ) File Nos. E-98-13, E-98-15 v. ) E-98-16, E-98-17, E-98-18 ) U S WEST COMMUNICATIONS, INC., et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: May 31, 2000; Released June 21, 2000 By the Commission: Commissioner Furchtgott-Roth dissenting and issuing a statement; Commissioner Powell concurring and issuing a statement. 1. In this Order, we address five separate formal complaints filed by paging carriers TSR Wireless, LLC (TSR) and Metrocall, Inc. (Metrocall) (hereinafter “Complainants” or “paging carriers”) against local exchange carriers (LECs) Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific Bell), U S West Communications, Inc. (U S West), GTE Telephone Operations (GTE), and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (SWBT) (collectively “Defendants”). The paging carriers allege that the LECs improperly imposed charges for facilities used to deliver LEC- originated traffic and for Direct Inward Dialing (DID) numbers in violation of sections 201(b) and 251(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,1 and the Commission’s rules promulgated thereunder. We find that, pursuant to the Commission’s rules and orders, LECs may not charge paging carriers for delivery of LEC-originated traffic. Consequently, Defendants may not impose upon Complainants charges for facilities used to deliver LEC-originated traffic to Complainants. In addition, we conclude that Defendants may not impose non-cost-based charges upon Complainants solely for the use of numbers. We further conclude that section 51.703(b) of the Commission’s rules does not prohibit LECs from charging, in certain instances, for “wide area calling” or similar services where a terminating carrier agrees to compensate the LEC for toll charges that would otherwise have been paid by the originating carrier’s customer.
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