Source: http://www.fcc.gov/print/node/39935
Timestamp: 2014-03-15 23:21:36
Document Index: 499580756

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 3717', '§ 1', '§ 285', '§ 54', '§ 54', '§ 1', '§ 54', '§ 54', '§ 254', '§ 54', '§ 54', '§ 54']

10 See Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321, 1358. 11 See USAC, Understanding Invoices, available at http://www.universalservice.org/cont/invoices/ [4] (last visited Apr. 28, 2012). Debt collection procedures may include further administrative efforts by both the Commission and the United States Treasury or, as appropriate, Commission referral of the delinquent debt to the Department of Justice for enforced collection action. 47 C.F.R. § 1.1917. Collection efforts may result in additional charges, including interest and penalties, as provided under 31 U.S.C. § 3717, and administrative charges pursuant to 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.1940, 54.713 and 31 C.F.R. § 285.12(j).
23 See 47 C.F.R. § 54.711(a); see also, e.g., FCC Form 499-A Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet − Annual Filing, available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form499-A/499a-2012.pdf [5] (last visited May 15, 2012).
24 See 47 C.F.R. § 54.711(a); Quarterly Reporting Order, 16 FCC Rcd at 5755, para. 19; see also FCC Form 499-Q Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet − Quarterly Filing for Universal Service Contributors, available athttp://www.fcc.gov/Forms/Form499-Q/499q-2012.pdf [6] (last visited May 15, 2012).
Telseven is a Florida-based company that held itself out and registered with the Commission28 as a “provider of interstate telecommunications services.”29 Telseven described its telecommunications service as an “interstate Enhanced Number Assistance Directory Service” (ENADA).30 This service, according to Telseven, offered consumers the ability to obtain information about recently disconnected or out-of-service toll free numbers.31 A consumer using this service would 25 See 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.1154 (regulatory fees), 52.17 (numbering), 52.32 (LNP), 54.709 (USF). 26 See, e.g., 47 C.F.R. § 54.711(a) (“The Commission shall announce by Public Notice published in the Federal Register and on its website the manner of payment and the dates by which payments must be made.”); Proposed Fourth Quarter 2011 Contribution Factor, Public Notice, 26 FCC Rcd 12943, 12946 (Off. Managing Dir. 2011) (“Contribution payments are due on the date shown on the invoice.”); see also 47 C.F.R. § 54.713(b) (noting that if a USF “contributor fails to make full payment on or before the date due of . . . monthly invoice provided by the Administrator, the payment is delinquent”). The Act and our rules, however, do not condition payment on receipt of an invoice or other notice from USAC, other program administrator, or the Commission. See, e.g., 47 U.S.C. § 254(d); 47 C.F.R. § 54.706(b). For instance, a carrier that does not file Form 499-A or Form 499-Q may not receive an invoice from USAC, but is nonetheless required to contribute to the USF, unless its revenues are considered de minimis. See Globcom, Inc., Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Order, 18 FCC Rcd 19893, 19896, para. 5 n.22 (2003) (Globcom NAL) (subsequent history omitted). In the case of USF contributions, providers whose contribution obligation in a given year is less than $10,000 are considered de minimis and exempted from contributing to the USF for that year. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.708. Filers do not calculate the amounts that they must contribute in the Quarterly and Annual Worksheets. Rather, the USF, TRS, NANP, and LNP administrators use the revenue information on these Worksheets to calculate a funding base and individual contributions for each support mechanism. See, e.g., 2012 Telecommunications Worksheet Instructions (FCC Form 499-A) at 31, available at http://www.fcc.gov/document/2012-form-499-instructions [7] (last visited May 9, 2012). 27 47 C.F.R. § 54.713.28 See Telseven, LLC “Registration Detail,” available at https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/coresWeb/searchDetail.do?frn [8]= 0009834466 (last visited May 15, 2012). Telseven also obtained authorization, pursuant to Section 214 of the Communications Act and Section 63.18 of the Commission’s rules, to provide international telecommunications services. See International Authorizations Granted, Public Notice, 19 FCC Rcd 4036 (Int’l Bur. 2004).
29 Telseven, LLC, d/b/a Calling 101 10 275, Calling 10 1515 800, Calling 10 10 141, Application for Authority to Provide Service in Accordance with Section 63.18(e)(2) of the Rules, Attach. 1 at Response to Question 9 (filed Feb. 6, 2004) (“Telseven . . . is a competitive provider of interstate telecommunications services.”), available athttp://licensing.fcc.gov/cgibin/ws.exe/prod/ib/forms/reports/swr031b.hts?q_set=V_SITE_ANTENNA_FREQ.file [9]_ numberC/File+Number/%3D/ITC2142004020900047&prepare=&column=V_SITE_ANTENNA_FREQ.file_numberC/File+Number (last visited May 14, 2012); FCC Form 499 Filer Database Detailed Information, Filer Identification for Telseven, available at http://apps.fcc.gov/cgb/form499/499detail.cfm?FilerNum=823700 [10] (last visited May 11, 2012) (based on Telseven’s Form 499 filings, listing all states except Alaska and Nevada as jurisdictions in which Telseven provides telecommunications services); see Letter from Wendy M. Creeden, Counsel for Telseven, LLC, Sullivan & Worcester, LLP, to Elizabeth Mumaw, Attorney Advisor, Investigations & Hearings Division, FCC Enforcement Bureau, at Responses to Questions 1–2 (Sept. 22, 2008) (on file in EB-08-IH-1386) (Telseven Sept. 22 Letter). 30 Telseven Sept. 22 Letter at Response to Question 2.31 See Telseven, LLC, Calling 10, LLC d/b/a California Calling 10, and Patrick Hines, Response to the Order Instituting Investigation and Denial of All Assertions of Possible Violation of California Law of Telseven, LLC, Calling 10, LLC d/b/a California Calling 10, and Patrick Hines, an Individual, Case No. I.10-12-010, at 9-10 (Cal. Pub. Util. Comm’n, filed Jan. 21, 2011) (Telseven Response to Cal. Pub. Util. Comm’n Investigation Order).
contact Telseven by dialing one of the approximately one million such numbers that Telseven controlled.32 A consumer dialing one of these numbers typically heard a message offering Telseven’s assistance in finding the current toll-free number of the party the consumer was trying to reach.33 A recorded message would then provide the consumer with an “equal access code” (i.e., dial-around number) for contacting Telseven’s directory assistance platform in Nevada.34 Consumers dialing this equal access code would have their calls transmitted to the Nevada platform by Telseven, rather than by the consumer’s prescribed long distance carrier.35 Since Telseven did not offer service in Nevada, all calls using this equal access number were interstate long distance calls.
Telseven imposed per call charges on many of the consumers who contacted its Nevada platform. These charges included, in addition to any fees that Telseven imposed for transmission to the Nevada platform and the other aspects of Telseven’s purported service, a per call “Federal Universal Service Fund charge.”36 Telseven also “charge[d] an administrative recovery fee of $1.65 in any month” the consumer dialed its “directory assistance service . . . to offset the cost Telseven incurs in complying with regulatory obligations” including “the cost of complying with the Federal Universal Service Charge.”37
On July 2, 2008, the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) issued a letter of inquiry (LOI) to Telseven seeking information about its compliance with the USF contribution rules and other related regulatory obligations.38 On September 22, 2008, Telseven responded to the LOI.39 In response to the Bureau’s requests for additional financial information and the identity of all Telseven affiliates, Telseven filed supplemental information on December 18, 2009, June 15, 2010, and July 12, 2010.40 The information developed through the Bureau’s investigat