Opinion ID: 185999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Interconnection Agreements

Text: 4 In February 1998 Starpower elected, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 252(i), to obtain interconnection, services, and network elements upon the same terms and conditions as those contained in an agreement between Verizon and MFS Intelnet of Virginia, Inc., which the VSCC had approved in 1996. The VSCC approved the agreement between Starpower and Verizon in June 1998. 5 Section 5.7 of the 1998 Agreement explains the duties of the parties with respect to reciprocal compensation: 6 5.7.2 The Parties shall compensate each other for transport and termination of Local Traffic in an equal and symmetrical manner at the rates provided in the Detailed Schedule of Itemized Charges.... 7 5.7.3 The Reciprocal Compensation arrangements set forth in this Agreement are not applicable to Switched Exchange Access Service. All Switched Exchange Access Service and all Toll Traffic shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the applicable federal and state Tariffs. 8 ... 9 5.7.5 The designation of Traffic as Local or Toll for purposes of compensation shall be based on the actual originating and terminating points of the complete end-to-end call regardless of the carrier(s) involved in carrying any segment of the call. 10 Section 1.61 of the agreement provides that Reciprocal Compensation means: 11 Reciprocal Compensation ... As Described in [or required by the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and as from time to time interpreted in the duly authorized rules and regulations of the FCC, see § 1.7], and refers to the payment arrangements that recover costs incurred for the transport and termination of Local Traffic originating on one Party's network and terminating on the other Party's network. 12 Finally, under § 1.44 of the agreement, Local Traffic 13 means traffic that is originated by a Customer of one Party on that Party's network and terminates to a Customer of the other Party on that other Party's network, within a given local calling area, or expanded area service (EAS) area, as defined in [Verizon]'s effective customer tariffs. Local Traffic does not include traffic originated or terminated by a commercial mobile radio [that is, cellular telephone] service carrier. 14 The parties began exchanging traffic in June 1998 and shortly thereafter Starpower billed Verizon for, among other things, calls originating on Verizon's network and terminating with ISPs on Starpower's network. Verizon, maintaining that the agreement did not cover ISP-bound traffic, refused to pay. In April 1999 Verizon notified Starpower that it was terminating the agreement.
15 In June 1999 Starpower notified Verizon that it intended to adopt the terms of an agreement Verizon had made with MCImetro Access Transmission Services of Virginia, Inc. in July 1997. The 1999 Agreement between Starpower and Verizon, which the VSCC approved in April 2000, contains the following provisions relevant to this dispute over reciprocal compensation: 16 4.1 [Starpower] may choose to deliver both Local Traffic and toll traffic over the same trunk group(s).... In the event [Starpower] chooses to deliver both types of traffic over the same traffic exchange trunks, and desires application of the local call transport and termination rates, it will provide Percent Local Usage (PLU) information to [Verizon].... In the event [Starpower] includes both interstate and intrastate toll traffic over the same trunk, it will provide Percent Interstate Usage (PIU) to [Verizon ..., which] shall have the same options, and to the extent it avails itself of them, the same obligation, to provide PIU and PLU information to [Starpower]. To the extent feasible, PLU and PIU information shall be based on the actual end-to-end jurisdictional nature of each call sent over the trunk .... [Emphasis supplied.] 17 4.2 Reciprocal Compensation for the exchange of Local Traffic is set forth in Table 1 of this Attachment and shall be assessed on a per minute-of-use basis for the transport and termination of such traffic. 18 Reciprocal Compensation is defined in Part B as 19 a reciprocal compensation arrangement between two carriers in which each of the two carriers receives compensation from the other carrier for the transport and termination on each carrier's network facilities of Local Traffic that originates on the network facilities of the other carrier. 20 The definition of Local Traffic in Part B closely resembles its counterpart in the 1998 Agreement: 21 Local Traffic means traffic that is originated by an end user subscriber of one Party on that Party's network and terminates to an end user subscriber of the other Party on that other Party's network within a given local calling area, or expanded area service (EAS) area, as defined in [Verizon]'s Tariffs, or, if the Commission has defined local calling areas applicable to all Local Exchange Carriers, then as so defined by the Commission. 22 Starpower and Verizon exchanged traffic pursuant to the terms of the 1999 Agreement and once again Verizon refused to pay Starpower for ISP-bound traffic.