FCC DETARIFFS INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE SERVICE
FCC voted Fri. to detariff international long distance services and gave carriers 9 months to transition to new arrangement. Action wasn’t surprise because FCC had voted to detariff domestic long distance service last year and carriers urged agency not to wait too long to take similar action for international services. Carriers had argued that it would be confusing to have one set of rules for domestic calls and another for international. FCC said carriers could detariff before end of 9-month transition period if they wished. Domestic detariffing goes into effect July 31 and some carriers have said they would like to do same thing for international at same time to avoid confusing consumers.
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Detariffing applies to nondominant carriers but nearly all international long distance companies already are classified that way. FCC staff member said there currently were no dominant international wireline carriers and only example she could give of dominant international carrier was Comsat. With tariffs gone, carriers will have to enter into contracts with customers. FCC International Bureau Chief Don Abelson said such contracts would be no different from those customers received when they signed up with credit card companies or for wireless service. Commission won’t have any jurisdiction over those contracts, which would be enforced under state contract law.
Agency retained tariff requirements for 4 types of services that would be “impossible or impractical” to place under contract: (1) International dial-around services. (2) Inbound international collect calls. (3) On-demand mobile satellite services that are used by customers on case-by-case basis. (4) Services to new customers that choose their long distance provider through their local service provider. In last case, tariffs would continue for 45 days or until there’s contract between customer and long distance company.
Abelson said action eliminated situation in which FCC in essence was “interceding in the marketplace” by requiring filing of tariffs. “We're taking ourselves out,” he said. Agency said detariffing also eliminated “significant regulatory burden” for companies and “harmful effects to consumers” of so-called filed rate doctrine. Doctrine, which often comes up in court challenges, permits carriers “to alter unilaterally the rates, terms and conditions for services by relying on tariffs filed with the Commission,” FCC said.
FCC ordered carriers to put rate and service information on their Web sites and make such information publicly available in easy-to-understand written form in at least one location. In addition, they will have to maintain price and service information for each of their international offerings for 2-1/2 years to help FCC and others monitor compliance with Commission rules requiring rates to be reasonable. Comr. Ness said she hoped FCC would look at usage of those data before time period was over and consider eliminating requirement if it wasn’t being used. Otherwise, it would be unnecessary burden on carriers, she said. Otherwise, Ness said she thought decision was very positive for consumers: “I expect competition in the international services market to intensify.”
In related action, Commission clarified filing requirements for small class of international carrier-to-carrier contracts for such things as accounting rates and resale services. Agency clarified that those filing requirements apply only to (1) carriers classified as dominant for reasons other than foreign affiliation and (2) carriers, dominant or not, that were contracting for services with foreign carriers that possessed market power.
Comr. Furchtgott-Roth said Fri.’s detariffing didn’t go far enough. “Tariffs are outdated and not in consumers’ interest,” he said, adding that he doubted whether very many people even were aware of existence of tariffs, other than attorneys, accountants, FCC staff. “It is not about consumer protection,” he said. “It is about a 19th century practice to help big business.”
CompTel heralded FCC’s action, saying it had urged FCC to permit carriers to detariff domestic and international services simultaneously and establish 9-month transition. “Parallel detariffing procedures will reduce customer and carrier confusion as well as the unnecessary costs that would inevitably result from implementing duplicate detariffing procedures,” Comptel Gen. Counsel Carol Ann Bischoff said.