Previous Story
U.S. Court upholds rate integration policy
|
Posted on Jul 24 2000
A federal court in Washington DC has ruled that the rate integration policy of the Federal Communications Commission applies to Micronesian Telecommunications Corporation and GTE’s other affiliated companies.
The ruling is a significant victory for CNMI consumers since it means that MTC should maintain its calling rates to the mainland United States at the current low rate-integrated level.
“The court’s decision means that off-island calls to U.S. points will remain at existing low levels despite GTE’s efforts to roll back rate integration. CNMI consumers should realize the substantial savings as a result,” said Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan.
The legal challenge began in August 1997 when GTE filed an appeal of the FCC’s 1996 and 1997 rate integration orders before the U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit.
Under the FCC’s rate integration policy, telephone companies operating in the CNMI and other Pacific insular areas are required to integrate their rates with mainland U.S. rates, including those of their affiliates.
When the policy was first implemented in 1997, calling rates from the CNMI to the mainland fell dramatically.
In its appeal, GTE sought to overturn the policy, rolling rates back to high, pre-1997 levels. GTE argued that MTC should be allowed to set its rates independent of, and therefore higher than, rates charged by affiliated GTE companies in the mainland.
The Office of the Governor participated in the appeal and opposed GTE’s position through its Washington DC telecommunications attorney, Thomas K. Crowe.
The court confirmed that GTE and other telephone companies operating in the CNMI must integrate rates with those of affiliated mainland service providers.
The court also took up the separate issue of whether the rate integration policy applies to wireless telecommunications services. While the FCC in prior rulings indicated that rate integration apply to wireless services, the court found deficiencies in the FCC prior decisions.
As a result, the ruling separately refers the wireless issue back to the FCC for further proceedings.
