From: Mike.Riddle@ivgate.omahug.org (Mike Riddle)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: FCC Requests Additional Comments on Docket 89-79
Date: 10 Sep 92 13:14:26 GMT
Reply-To: mike.riddle%inns@ivgate.omahug.org
Organization: Inns of Court, Papillion, NE
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 699, Message 1 of 11

The FCC has taken some action to reconsider some aspects of the access
charge pricing issue within its Open Network Architecture proceedings.
Here's a copy of the press release from the FCC:

                  ADDITIONAL COMMENTS SOLICITED
                  WITH RESPECT TO ISSUES RAISED
                IN PETITIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION
                    OF THE PART 69/ONA ORDER
 
                         CC DOCKET 89-79
 
                                   Released:  August 14, 1992
 
"On July 16, 1992, the Commission adopted a Memorandum Opinion & Order
on Second Further Reconsideration, FCC 92-325, released Aug. 6, 1992.
That decision addressed the Docket 87-313 price cap new services test
issues raised in petitions for reconsideration of the Part 69/ONA
Order, 6 FCC Rcd 4524 (1991).  It did not address the other issues
raised in the petitions for reconsideration of the Part 69/ONA Order.
These issues include the pricing standard for basic service elements
(BSEs), the elimination of bundled feature groups, and maintenance of
the status quo with respect to access charge treatment of enhanced
service providers (ESPs).  Before acting on the remaining issues
raised by the petitions for reconsideration, we give parties an
opportunity to update the record in light of intervening events, such
as the effectiveness of federal ONA tariffs.
 
"Interested parties should file comments on the request by September
30, 1992, and reply comments by October 30, 1992, with the Secretary,
FCC, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20554.  A copy should also
be sent to Mark S. Nadel, Common Carrier Bureau, FCC, Room 544, 1919 M
St., N.W., Washington, D.C.  20554, and to the Commission's contractor
for public service records duplication: Downtown Copy Center, 1114
21st Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20036.  Copies of the petitions
can be obtained from the Downtown Copy Center at (202) 452-1422.
 
"We will treat this proceeding as non-restricted for purposes of the
Commission's ex parte rules.  See generally, 47 C.F.R.  1.1200-
1.1216.  For further information contact Mark Nadel, Policy and
Program Planning Division of the Common Carrier Bureau, at (202) 632-
6363.
 
                              "- F C C -"


My comments:

The Open Network Architecture Basic Service Element Pricing scheme,
adopted on July 11, 1991, as part of docket 89-79, will require
usage-based access charges be imposed on the enhanced service
providers using the new, unbundled, "basic service elements" of open
network architecture.  This will be a per-minute charge that is paid
by the ESP to the LEC and will not be any form of a "tax" levied
directly upon the end user.
 
ESP's are folks like GEnie, Compuserve, PC Pursuit, and Starlink, to
name the ones the common modem user might be concerned with.  Since
these companies are in business to make money, the increased access
charge will be ultimately passed on to the end user -- the public.
But again, it's /not/ a tax, and it doesn't go to the government.  It
is a federally mandated charge that goes to the local exchange
carrier.
 
My personal assessment is that this change is ill-conceived and should
not be implemented.  As long as the charge is cost-based, the LEC is
going to do okay financially, and the public will not be gouged.  But
it seems to me that the FCC, particularly with its relaxation of the
accounting rules in several "ONA price cap" decisions over the last
year, has demonstrated its fondness for the telcos rather than the
public.
 
While it is true that the "current exemption for ESPs has been
retained," that is, the ESPs may continue to use the bundled feature
groups to buy the services they need and not pay increased charges, an
obscure part of the 1991 ruling requires "feature groups to be
eliminated at a future date."
 
When that future date arrives, the ESPs will be forced to buy the
Basic Service Elements they need, at a much higher price, which will
be passed on to consumers.
 
The impact will also be to non-modem users, since these charges affect
data systems used a lot more widely than might be imagined.  For
example, the credit card verification terminals use data-packet
networks that involve local dial-ins, and thus will incur the higher
charges.  Exactly how that charge will be distributed among the
carriers, the credit card companies, the service bureaus, and the
stores is open to conjecture, but you're probably safe in assuming the
consumer will hold the bag when it's all over.
 

Mike    inns.omahug.org   +1 402 593 1192  (1:285/27.0)