§ 69.115   Special access surcharges.

   (a) Pending the development of techniques accurately to measure usage of
   exchange  facilities  that  are  interconnected by users with means of
   interstate or foreign telecommunications, a surcharge that is expressed in
   dollars and cents per line termination per month shall be assessed upon
   users that subscribe to private line services or WATS services that are not
   exempt from assessment pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section.

   (b) Such surcharge shall be computed to reflect a reasonable approximation
   of the carrier usage charges which, assuming non-premium interconnection,
   would have been paid for average interstate or foreign usage of common
   lines, end office facilities, and transport facilities, attributable to each
   Special Access line termination which is not exempt from assessment pursuant
   to paragraph (e) of this section.

   (c) If the association, carrier or carriers that file the tariff are unable
   to  estimate  such average usage for a period ending May 31, 1985, the
   surcharge  for such period shall be twenty-five dollars ($25) per line
   termination per month. As of June 30, 2000, these rates will remain and be
   capped at the current levels until June 30, 2005.

   (d) A telephone company may propose reasonable and nondiscriminatory end
   user surcharges, to be filed in its federal access tariffs and to be applied
   to the use of exchange facilities which are interconected by users with
   means of interstate or foreign telecommunication which are not provided by
   the telephone company, and which are not exempt from assessment pursuant to
   paragraph (e) of this section. Telephone companies which wish to avail
   themselves  of this option must undertake to use reasonable efforts to
   identify such means of interstate or foreign telecommunication, and to
   assess end user surcharges in a reasonable and nondiscriminatory manner.

   (e) No special access surcharges shall be assessed for any of the following
   terminations:

   (1) The open end termination in a telephone company switch of an FX line,
   including CCSA and CCSA-equivalent ONALs;

   (2)  Any  termination  of  an analog channel that is used for radio or
   television program transmission;

   (3) Any termination of a line that is used for telex service;

   (4)  Any  termination  of  a  line  that  by  nature  of its operating
   characteristics could not make use of common lines; and

   (5) Any termination of a line that is subject to carrier usage charges
   pursuant to § 69.5.

   (6) Any termination of a line that the customer certifies to the exchange
   carrier is not connected to a PBX or other device capable of interconnecting
   a local exchange subscriber line with the private line or WATS access line.

   (47 U.S.C. 154 (i) and (j), 201, 202, 203, 205, 218 and 403 and 5 U.S.C.
   553)

   [ 48 FR 43019 , Sept. 21, 1983, as amended at  49 FR 7829 , Mar. 2, 1984;  51 FR 10841 , Mar. 31, 1986;  52 FR 8259 , Mar. 17, 1987;  65 FR 38701 , June 21, 2000]

   return arrow Back to Top