ALTS Urges Compensation for Costs of Terminating ISP-Bound Traffic; FCC Has the Opportunity To Resolve the Issue.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 2000 The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS ALTS Association for Local Telecommunications Services ALTS Aarhus Lawn Tennis Selskab (Denmark) ALTS Annotated Labeled Transition System ALTS Analogue Line Terminating Subsystem ALTS Automatic Laser Tracking System ) today urged the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. (FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. ) to affirm that telephone calls to Internet Service Providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. (ISPs) are local and subject to reciprocal compensation. ALTS is the leading national organization representing facilities-based competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). "The Commission has an opportunity to do the right thing and resolve this issue," said John D. Windhausen, Jr., President of ALTS. "There is no doubt that there are costs associated with terminating calls to ISPs, and CLECs should be fairly compensated for terminating them." In its previous ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. Reciprocal Compensation Order, the FCC ruled that ISP-bound traffic is access, but the D.C. Circuit Court later vacated that ruling, finding that dial up calls to ISPs seemed more closely to resemble local traffic. The D.C. Circuit Court then remanded the issue back to the FCC. "If the dialed number is within the local calling area, it is indistinguishable from any other local call," said Jonathan Askin, ALTS' General Counsel. "It is irrelevant what the ISP, or any other local customer, does with the communication after it terminates at the local number. A carrier must be fairly compensated for terminating calls to ISPs, just as the incumbent telephone companies are compensated for terminating wireless and other local telephone calls." ALTS is the leading national industry association whose mission is to promote facilities-based local telecommunications competition. Created in 1987, ALTS has offices in Washington, D. C. and Irvine, California and now represents more than 200 companies that build, own, and operate competitive local networks. For more information on ALTS, contact Crawford Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most at 703-318-5460 or visit the ALTS web site at www.alts.org. |
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