CenturyLink Could Back Intrastate ICS Reforms
CenturyLink, while contending the FCC lacks authority over intrastate inmate calling services, said it could back an ICS overhaul that lowers calling costs without reducing service availability. A Further NPRM asked about establishing intrastate caps (see 1501280036). For CenturyLink to…
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back intrastate ICS reforms, it said the FCC should adopt permanent unitary caps for ICS calls near interstate call levels, eliminate most ancillary fees and cap those it allows, let correctional facilities require commissions on ICS services, and grandfather existing contracts or provide a transition period to new rules for at least a budget cycle. The telco also wants the commission to "exclude particularly high-cost facilities such as juvenile detention centers and secure mental health facilities from any rate caps it adopts but make them subject to the same restrictions on ancillary fees," it said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. Or the agency could have an expedited waiver process to review the rates for calls from high-cost facilities, CenturyLink representatives told Wireline Bureau Pricing Policy Division officials.