The FCC has adopted an Report and Order extending the freeze on the jurisdictional separations rules for rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carriers for an additional six years. The jurisdictional separations rules prevent rate-of-return ILECs from recovering the same costs from both interstate and intrastate jurisdictions and were purposed with ensuring that these carriers apportion costs of their regulated services based on the relative use of their networks to provide services.
The Commission has determined that the separations rules play a substantially diminished role in allocating costs between the interstate and intrastate jurisdictions given the ongoing transition from traditional telephone service to broadband-based voice services. However, the FCC has declined to provide carriers the opportunity at this time to change their current interstate and intrastate category relationships.
