TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Powell Rips FCC Delay on Connection Fee Reform

Re: Powell Rips FCC Delay on Connection Fee Reform

John Levine (johnl@iecc.com)
17 Feb 2005 01:39:17 -0000

> Actually, the real battle involves the rapacious rural ILECs, who want
> everything to subsidize them and they want it now.

Yes, and we their customers thank you for it. I agree that the
current universal service setup is a mess, but the solution is to
simplify it so it's collected as a percentage of revenue, and change
the way it's distributed to avoid incentives to gold plate everything.

> As to the CLEC settlement rules, the Bells didn't write them; the FCC
> initially gave the CLECs what they asked for, but when it turned out
> the CLECs had played the FCC for a fool and were engaging in
> gamesmanship (e.g., signing up ISPs with no outgoing minutes and
> massive incoming minutes), it reversed course as to their internet
> terminations. For everything else, the CLECs have made out just fine.

Uh, negatory on that. The Bells wanted high recip comp per minute
rates because they expected that the traffic would mostly be toward
them, like it was from cell phones. The CLECs, not being totally
stupid, moved into the ISP market both because the recip was favorable
and also because the Bells had dragged their feet giving the ISPs the
bulk lines they needed to grow their business, and offered things the
Bells wouldn't like broad local number coverage. In this particular
case the Bells shot themselves directly in the foot.

Regards,

John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711
johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com,
Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

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