U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., vacated part of FCC order and remanded ...
U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., vacated part of FCC order and remanded another part in decision issued Tues. in case brought against Commission by ACS of Anchorage. At issue was dispute over tariffs filed by ACS, which is rate-of-return ILEC.…
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In 2-year tariff filed in June 1998, ACS choose to allocate costs associated with ISP calls to its interstate services category, rather than to intrastate side as it had done in past. Classifying those costs as interstate kept ACS within maximum rate of return of 11.65%. Had company filed them as intrastate costs it would have been over maximum. FCC let tariff go into effect but when customer General Communications Inc. (GCI) complained, Commission ordered ACS to pay $2.7 million in damages to GCI plus interest. ACS challenged 3 parts of FCC decision and won on 2: (1) Court denied ACS complaint that agency erroneously required it to allocate ISP costs to its intrastate services category, saying FCC deserved deference on that issue. “We cannot find the Commission’s interim intrastate classification of ISP- related costs to be arbitrary or capricious,” court said. (2) Court vacated and remanded part of FCC order involving damages, accepting ACS argument that its filing of tariffs under streamlined option barred any damages for calendar year 1998. (3) It granted ACS challenge to rate FCC chose for calculating interest for other years and remanded it to Commission. Court asked agency to show why it picked one calculation method over another that would have resulted in lower interest payment. Suit was heard by Judges Harry Edwards, Raymond Randolph and Stephen Williams, who wrote opinion.