Consortium Asks DC Appeals Court to Hear Oral Argument in 'Irregulators v. FCC'
A consortium of telecom experts asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hear oral argument in Irregulators v. FCC, which petitions for review of an FCC order that extended the freeze on rules allocating most regulated…
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telecom costs to intrastate rather than interstate services (see 1812200069), posted Monday as case 19-1085 (in Pacer). Bruce Kushnick, executive director of New Networks Institute, represents the petitioners including the Irregulators, an independent consortium of telecom attorneys, analysts and auditors, including former FCC senior staffers. The petitioners said the FCC's current methodology over-allocates costs to intrastate communications, leading to higher intrastate retail consumer prices for basic local phone service, and leads also to an under-allocation of costs to interstate service. The agency looked only at "perceived burdens" on industry, the petitioners argue in the filing; "consumers' interests and benefits were barely mentioned or included in the 'costs and benefits' analysis performed by the FCC."