Frontier Wary of 'Drastic Overhaul' of Toll-Free Calling; CenturyLink Plugs Direct Interconnection
Frontier Communications said an FCC draft Further NPRM "proposes a drastic overhaul of the toll-free calling system instead of a narrowly tailored proposal to reduce arbitrage." The telco "does not engage in such arbitrage and gaming" and it's "likely a…
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small number of bad actors ... are the cause of any arbitrage problems," said its filing in docket 18-156 Thursday on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The "Commission’s proposal turns the concept of toll-free calling on its head, shifting the costs ... . At the same time, proposals targeted directly at arbitrage and gaming would avoid those negative impacts to end users." Frontier noted it joined with the American Cable Association, NCTA, Windstream, NTCA, ITTA and WTA on a Nov. 1 letter asking the FCC “to take targeted actions to address such abusive schemes while the Commission more fully examines the appropriate treatment of legitimate 8YY traffic for compensation purposes.” Frontier is "committed to coming to a reasonable solution to truly target arbitrage, whether it is a mirroring rule, a presumption for a lower rate when there is suspicious traffic, or some other solution," it said. "However, if the Commission pursues more comprehensive 8YY reform, a sufficient transition period and an access recovery mechanism are necessary and should be contemplated not only for originating end office and tandem switching and transport charges, but also for database query charges." CenturyLink pushed its intercarrier compensation direct interconnection proposal (see 1805220042) "to align the responsibility for determining how terminating access traffic should be routed with the financial responsibility for that decision," said a filing posted Friday in 01-92 on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr. "This will encourage efficient network deployment and investment decisions, reduce incentives to engage in regulatory arbitrage, enhance competition and market efficiency, and reduce disputes."