The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has granted a waiver to Telapex, Inc. (Telapex) and Venture Communications Cooperative (Venture) to allow the merging of each entity’s wholly-owned rate-of-return study areas in Mississippi and South Dakota, respectively. The Bureau found these waivers to be in the public interest because (1) the combined carriers’ Base Period Revenues and interstate revenue requirements is the appropriate base from which to calculate eligible recovery for the merged sets of entities; and (2) the merged entities are NECA tariff participants, their local switching, dedicated transport, and tandem switching rates of the merged areas (which the Bureau found to be reasonable) will be included in rate bands reflecting comparable cost groupings and will become the new rate cap.
