[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21778-21779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8342]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[CC Docket No. 02-53, DA 05-1045]


Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charges

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice; waiver of compliance date.

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[[Page 21779]]

SUMMARY: This document grants informal requests for waiver of the 
deadline for compliance with the Commission's revised presubscribed 
interexchange carrier (PIC) change charge policies. PIC change charges 
are federally-tariffed charges imposed by incumbent local exchange 
carriers on end-user subscribers when these subscribers change their 
long distance carriers. The order extends by six months the date by 
which incumbent local exchange carriers must file tariff revisions to 
comply with the revised PIC change charge requirements.

DATES: Effective Date: April 8, 2005.
    Compliance Date: Incumbent local exchange carriers shall filed 
revised rates in compliance with the PIC Change Charge Order no later 
than October 17, 2005. These rates shall be effective on 15 days' 
notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer McKee, Wireline Competition 
Bureau, Pricing Policy Division, (202) 418-1530, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the order in CC Docket 
No. 02-53 released on April 11, 2005. The full text of this document is 
available on the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System Web site 
and for public inspection during regular business hours in the FCC 
Reference Center, Room CY-A257, 445 Twelfth Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20554.
    On February 10, 2005, the Commission adopted a report and order 
revising its requirements regarding PIC change charges. Presubscribed 
Interexchange Carrier Charges, 70 FR 12601, March 15, 2005. PIC change 
charges are federally tariffed charges imposed by local exchange 
carriers (LECs) on end user subscribers when these subscribers change 
their presubscribed interexchange carriers (IXCs). Based on the record 
in the proceeding, the Commission required incumbent LECs to adopt 
separate PIC change charges for changes that are processed 
electronically and manually. The Commission adopted a safe harbor of 
$1.25 for electronically processed PIC changes, and a safe harbor of 
$5.50 for manually processed PIC changes. The Commission also required 
that, when a customer changes its PIC in conjunction with changing its 
intraLATA primary interexchange carrier (LPIC), incumbent LECs should 
assess half of the applicable federally-tariffed PIC change charge. 
Incumbent LECs were required to revise their Federal tariffs to reflect 
these changes within 30 days of publication of the order in the Federal 
Register, with the new rates to be effective on 15 days' notice. The 
PIC Change Charge Order was published in the Federal Register on March 
15, 2005; therefore, incumbent LECs were required to file their tariff 
revisions by April 14, 2005.
    Several individual incumbent LECs and trade groups representing 
incumbent LECs have informally requested that the Commission extend the 
effective date of the requirements in the PIC Change Charge Order. 
These entities assert that they will not be able by April 14 to make 
the changes necessary within their systems to assess separate charges 
for manually and electronically processed PIC changes, or to assess the 
50 percent charge when PICs are changed in conjunction with LPICs.
    The incumbent LECs have shown good cause for an extension of the 
tariff revision deadline. Several incumbent LECs have provided 
extensive explanations of the changes to their billing and operating 
systems necessary for implementation of the revised PIC change charges. 
We therefore find that a limited waiver of the deadline for complying 
with the PIC Change Charge Order is warranted. We do not, however, 
believe that the public interest is served by delaying the 
implementation of the PIC change charge requirements for the ten- to 
twelve-month period requested by some parties. Instead, we extend by 
six months the effective date for filing revised tariffs implementing 
the PIC change charge requirements. Based on information provided by 
several incumbent LECs, we believe that six months is a sufficient 
amount of time for incumbent LECs to make the system changes necessary 
to implement the revised PIC change charge requirements. This limited 
extension serves the public interest by allowing incumbent LECs to 
implement revised PIC change charges at one time, rather than in a 
piecemeal fashion, which could create customer confusion.
    Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to section 1-4, 201, 203, 205, 
and 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151-
154, 201, 203, 205, and 403, Sec. Sec.  1.3 and 1.41 of the 
Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.3 and 1.41, and authority delegated under 
Sec. Sec.  0.91 and 0.291 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.91 and 
0.291, that the informal request of the incumbent LECs for a limited 
waiver of the date for filing tariff revisions related to the PIC 
Change Charge Order is granted, to the extent discussed above. 
Incumbent LECs shall file revised rates, to include one rate for PIC 
changes that are processed electronically and a separate rate for PIC 
changes that are processed manually, and rates equal to 50 percent of 
the full PIC change charge rate when a customer requests a PIC change 
in conjunction with an LPIC change, no later than October 17, 2005. 
These rates shall be effective on fifteen (15) days' notice.

Federal Communications Commission.
Lisa S. Gelb,
Deputy Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau.
[FR Doc. 05-8342 Filed 4-26-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P