WTA Joins Industry in Proposing Solution to AT&T Access Stimulation Petition
On November 17, WTA joined other telecom industry associations and companies in sending a letter to the FCC recommending the FCC adopt rules to “require carriers that are engaged in access stimulation to bear financial responsibility for all terminating switched transport costs…and the tandem switch to which the terminating carrier requires inbound calls to be routed.”
The issue arose from a Petition filed AT&T in September 2016 seeking forbearance from “the tariffing requirements related to all tandem switching and tandem-switched transport charges on all traffic to or from [local exchange carriers (LECs)] engaged in access stimulation.”
The industry letter, which AT&T also signed, states that under the recommended rules, those carriers engaged in access stimulation “would not render bills to interexchange carriers for terminating tandem switched transport with respect to stimulated traffic, and would be required to pay the terminating tandem switched transport charges in lieu of interexchange carriers for these calls to other access providers of such transport.” In conjunction with the industry letter, AT&T withdrew its Forbearance Petition.
