The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) has affirmed the interim rate cap of $0.001 per minute for tandem switching and transport of toll-free traffic. The DC Circuit panel’s unanimous decision in Inteliquent, Inc., v. FCC denied an appeal filed by a large provider of tandem services seeking to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) report & order in the 8YY Access Charge Reform proceeding. The court ruled that “setting the rate cap for tandem switching services at $0.001 per minute was not arbitrary and capricious,” and it concluded that “Inteliquent’s petition rests upon weak data and an outdated approach to price regulation.”
