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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: FCC Ruling, Cost of Internet
I'd recommend reading the actual text of the ADSL order (available at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/1998/fcc98292.txt) it's actually remarkably lucid regarding the complexity of the issues. Note that the GTE ADSL decision applies to a specific service which is not switched per the classic definition. The decision to be announced is next week (with regard to conventional dial-up access) apparently will be much broader in nature covering whether or not the traditional inter-carrier reciprocal compensation should apply for dialup Internet calls terminating on an ISP/CLEC. Currently, a carrier pays compensation to terminate calls on another carriers network. Note that carriers don't pay "customers" for the privilege of terminating calls on their network. Depending on the actual ruling of the FCC to be announced, one possible outcome might be for an ISP acting also as a CLEC to be paid "compensation" for each call handed off to it by the local exchange carrier. Another outcome may be the FCC specifically stating that CLEC's should not receive compensation for such traffic. Needless to say, the anticipated order has some potential to alter Internet economics for dialup providers. /John
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