47 C.F.R. Subpart H—Reciprocal Compensation for Transport and Termination of Telecommunications Traffic
Title 47 - Telecommunication
Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to subpart H appear at 66 FR 26806, May 15, 2001.
(a) The provisions of this subpart apply to reciprocal compensation for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic between LECs and other telecommunications carriers. (b) Telecommunications traffic. For purposes of this subpart, telecommunications traffic means: (1) Telecommunications traffic exchanged between a LEC and a telecommunications carrier other than a CMRS provider, except for telecommunications traffic that is interstate or intrastate exchange access, information access, or exchange services for such access (see FCC 01–131, paragraphs 34, 36, 39, 42–43); or (2) Telecommunications traffic exchanged between a LEC and a CMRS provider that, at the beginning of the call, originates and terminates within the same Major Trading Area, as defined in §24.202(a) of this chapter. (c) Transport. For purposes of this subpart, transport is the transmission and any necessary tandem switching of telecommunications traffic subject to section 251(b)(5) of the Act from the interconnection point between the two carriers to the terminating carrier's end office switch that directly serves the called party, or equivalent facility provided by a carrier other than an incumbent LEC. (d) Termination. For purposes of this subpart, termination is the switching of telecommunications traffic at the terminating carrier's end office switch, or equivalent facility, and delivery of such traffic to the called party's premises. (e) Reciprocal compensation. For purposes of this subpart, a reciprocal compensation arrangement between two carriers is one in which each of the two carriers receives compensation from the other carrier for the transport and termination on each carrier's network facilities of telecommunications traffic that originates on the network facilities of the other carrier. [61 FR 45619, Aug. 29, 1996, as amended at 66 FR 26806, May 15, 2001] (a) Each LEC shall establish reciprocal compensation arrangements for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic with any requesting telecommunications carrier. (b) A LEC may not assess charges on any other telecommunications carrier for telecommunications traffic that originates on the LEC's network. (a) An incumbent LEC's rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic shall be established, at the election of the state commission, on the basis of: (1) The forward-looking economic costs of such offerings, using a cost study pursuant to §§51.505 and 51.511; (2) Default proxies, as provided in §51.707; or (3) A bill-and-keep arrangement, as provided in §51.713. (b) In cases where both carriers in a reciprocal compensation arrangement are incumbent LECs, state commissions shall establish the rates of the smaller carrier on the basis of the larger carrier's forward-looking costs, pursuant to §51.711. (a) A state commission may determine that the cost information available to it with respect to transport and termination of telecommunications traffic does not support the adoption of a rate or rates for an incumbent LEC that are consistent with the requirements of §§51.505 and 51.511. In that event, the state commission may establish rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic, or for specific components included therein, that are consistent with the proxies specified in this section, provided that: (1) Any rate established through use of such proxies is superseded once that state commission establishes rates for transport and termination pursuant to §§51.705(a)(1) or 51.705(a)(3); and (2) The state commission sets forth in writing a reasonable basis for its selection of a particular proxy for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic, or for specific components included within transport and termination. (b) If a state commission establishes rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic on the basis of default proxies, such rates must meet the following requirements: (1) Termination. The incumbent LEC's rates for the termination of telecommunications traffic shall be no greater than 0.4 cents ($0.004) per minute, and no less than 0.2 cents ($0.002) per minute, except that, if a state commission has, before August 8, 1996, established a rate less than or equal to 0.5 cents ($0.005) per minute for such calls, that rate may be retained pending completion of a forward-looking economic cost study. (2) Transport. The incumbent LEC's rates for the transport of telecommunications traffic, under this section, shall comply with the proxies described in §51.513(c) (3), (4), and (5) of this part that apply to the analogous unbundled network elements used in transporting a call to the end office that serves the called party. [61 FR 45619, Aug. 29, 1996, as amended at 61 FR 52709, Oct. 8, 1996] (a) In state proceedings, a state commission shall establish rates for the transport and termination of telecommunications traffic that are structured consistently with the manner that carriers incur those costs, and consistently with the principles in §§51.507 and 51.509. (b) The rate of a carrier providing transmission facilities dedicated to the transmission of traffic between two carriers' networks shall recover only the costs of the proportion of that trunk capacity used by an interconnecting carrier to send traffic that will terminate on the providing carrier's network. Such proportions may be measured during peak periods. (a) Rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic shall be symmetrical, except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. (1) For purposes of this subpart, symmetrical rates are rates that a carrier other than an incumbent LEC assesses upon an incumbent LEC for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic equal to those that the incumbent LEC assesses upon the other carrier for the same services. (2) In cases where both parties are incumbent LECs, or neither party is an incumbent LEC, a state commission shall establish the symmetrical rates for transport and termination based on the larger carrier's forward-looking costs. (3) Where the switch of a carrier other than an incumbent LEC serves a geographic area comparable to the area served by the incumbent LEC's tandem switch, the appropriate rate for the carrier other than an incumbent LEC is the incumbent LEC's tandem interconnection rate. (b) A state commission may establish asymmetrical rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic only if the carrier other than the incumbent LEC (or the smaller of two incumbent LECs) proves to the state commission on the basis of a cost study using the forward-looking economic cost based pricing methodology described in §§51.505 and 51.511, that the forward-looking costs for a network efficiently configured and operated by the carrier other than the incumbent LEC (or the smaller of two incumbent LECs), exceed the costs incurred by the incumbent LEC (or the larger incumbent LEC), and, consequently, that such that a higher rate is justified. (c) Pending further proceedings before the Commission, a state commission shall establish the rates that licensees in the Paging and Radiotelephone Service (defined in part 22, subpart E of this chapter), Narrowband Personal Communications Services (defined in part 24, subpart D of this chapter), and Paging Operations in the Private Land Mobile Radio Services (defined in part 90, subpart P of this chapter) may assess upon other carriers for the transport and termination of telecommunications traffic based on the forward-looking costs that such licensees incur in providing such services, pursuant to §§51.505 and 51.511. Such licensees' rates shall not be set based on the default proxies described in §51.707. (a) For purposes of this subpart, bill-and-keep arrangements are those in which neither of the two interconnecting carriers charges the other for the termination of telecommunications traffic that originates on the other carrier's network. (b) A state commission may impose bill-and-keep arrangements if the state commission determines that the amount of telecommunications traffic from one network to the other is roughly balanced with the amount of telecommunications traffic flowing in the opposite direction, and is expected to remain so, and no showing has been made pursuant to §51.711(b). (c) Nothing in this section precludes a state commission from presuming that the amount of telecommunications traffic from one network to the other is roughly balanced with the amount of telecommunications traffic flowing in the opposite direction and is expected to remain so, unless a party rebuts such a presumption. (a) Upon request from a telecommunications carrier without an existing interconnection arrangement with an incumbent LEC, the incumbent LEC shall provide transport and termination of telecommunications traffic immediately under an interim arrangement, pending resolution of negotiation or arbitration regarding transport and termination rates and approval of such rates by a state commission under sections 251 and 252 of the Act. (1) This requirement shall not apply when the requesting carrier has an existing interconnection arrangement that provides for the transport and termination of telecommunications traffic by the incumbent LEC. (2) A telecommunications carrier may take advantage of such an interim arrangement only after it has requested negotiation with the incumbent LEC pursuant to §51.301. (b) Upon receipt of a request as described in paragraph (a) of this section, an incumbent LEC must, without unreasonable delay, establish an interim arrangement for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic at symmetrical rates. (1) In a state in which the state commission has established transport and termination rates based on forward-looking economic cost studies, an incumbent LEC shall use these state-determined rates as interim transport and termination rates. (2) In a state in which the state commission has established transport and termination rates consistent with the default price ranges and ceilings described in §51.707, an incumbent LEC shall use these state-determined rates as interim rates. (3) In a state in which the state commission has neither established transport and termination rates based on forward-looking economic cost studies nor established transport and termination rates consistent with the default price ranges described in §51.707, an incumbent LEC shall set interim transport and termination rates at the default ceilings for end-office switching (0.4 cents per minute of use), tandem switching (0.15 cents per minute of use), and transport (as described in §51.707(b)(2)). (c) An interim arrangement shall cease to be in effect when one of the following occurs with respect to rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic subject to the interim arrangement: (1) A voluntary agreement has been negotiated and approved by a state commission; (2) An agreement has been arbitrated and approved by a state commission; or (3) The period for requesting arbitration has passed with no such request. (d) If the rates for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic in an interim arrangement differ from the rates established by a state commission pursuant to §51.705, the state commission shall require carriers to make adjustments to past compensation. Such adjustments to past compensation shall allow each carrier to receive the level of compensation it would have received had the rates in the interim arrangement equalled the rates later established by the state commission pursuant to §51.705. (a) Any CMRS provider that operates under an arrangement with an incumbent LEC that was established before August 8, 1996 and that provides for non-reciprocal compensation for transport and termination of telecommunications traffic is entitled to renegotiate these arrangements with no termination liability or other contract penalties. (b) From the date that a CMRS provider makes a request under paragraph (a) of this section until a new agreement has been either arbitrated or negotiated and has been approved by a state commission, the CMRS provider shall be entitled to assess upon the incumbent LEC the same rates for the transport and termination of telecommunications traffic that the incumbent LEC assesses upon the CMRS provider pursuant to the pre-existing arrangement.
Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 51—INTERCONNECTION
Subpart H—Reciprocal Compensation for Transport and Termination of Telecommunications Traffic
§ 51.701 Scope of transport and termination pricing rules.
§ 51.703 Reciprocal compensation obligation of LECs.
§ 51.705 Incumbent LECs' rates for transport and termination.
§ 51.707 Default proxies for incumbent LECs' transport and termination rates.
§ 51.709 Rate structure for transport and termination.
§ 51.711 Symmetrical reciprocal compensation.
§ 51.713 Bill-and-keep arrangements for reciprocal compensation.
§ 51.715 Interim transport and termination pricing.
§ 51.717 Renegotiation of existing non-reciprocal arrangements.
