FCC Proposes Comprehensive Reform of Universal Service/Intercarrier Compensation Regulations
On February 9, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission released a comprehensive and wide-ranging Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing proposed reforms to the federal Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime. The proposed rules as well as many issues raised in the notice, if adopted or implemented, could have a dramatic impact on telecommunications carriers currently receiving universal service support as well as the payment arrangements between carriers for circuit switched as well as IP traffic.