Rate Integration
US: An FCC requirement,
codified in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, that a provider of inter-state
interexchange services provide these services to its subscribers in each State
at rates no higher than the rates charged to its subscribers in any other
State.[See CI '96 Act Reference I(101)(254)(g)]
Rate-of-Return Regulation
US: A form of regulation
under which a carrier is permitted to adjust
its prices in order to earn a pre-determined return on investment. Also called
'cost-of-service' regulation, rate-of-return regulation is viewed as providing
less incentive for a carrier to operate efficiently because earnings vary
with the level of investment, not operating efficiency, and prices to consumers
can be adjusted upward to achieve the authorized return on investment. Conversely,
under price cap regulation, in which prices
are regulated directly allowing earnings to vary, a carrier has a strong incentive
to operate efficiently because with set prices, earnings will only increase
if investment and operating costs are reduced.
In 1990, the FCC adopted
mandatory price cap regulation for the Bell
Operating Companies and GTE. Smaller local
exchange carriers remain under rate-of-return regulation but may elect
to be governed by price cap regulation.
The smaller ILECs
under rate-of-return regulation generally have higher costs than ILECs
under price cap regulation because they often serve rural areas that are
less densely populated, requiring longer loops (subscriber lines) and trunking
facilities that increase costs. Rate-of-return ILECs serve fewer than eight
percent of the total subscriber lines in the country, accounting for approximately
nine percent of the revenues. (See also Price
Cap Regulation)
Reciprocal Compensation
Compensation paid on a 'reciprocal' basis
by competing local carriers for terminating each other's telecomunications traffic.
Under section 251(b)(5) (Reciprocal Compensation)
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, all local exchange carriers, both incumbents and new entrants,
have an obligation to establish reciprocal compensation arrangements with
other local carriers with whom they interconnect for the purpose of transporting
and terminating telecommunications traffic. Thus, if a customer of local
carrier A places a call to a customer of local competitor B, carrier A would
compensate carrier B for terminating the call on the latter's network. With
normal calling patterns, compensation would tend to flow in both directions
and roughly balance out over time.
Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC)
Any of the regional holding
companies into which the divested Bell Operating Companies were grouped after
the breakup of AT&T in 1984. The original seven RBOCS were Ameritech,
Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell (now SBC)
, and US West. The total was reduced to five in 1997 when SBC acquired Pacific
Telesis and Bell Atlantic acquired NYNEX (and later changed its name to Verizon).
The total was reduced to four in 1999 when SBC acquired Ameritech. In August
2000 Qwest acquired US West. The four remaining RBOCs are BellSouth, Qwest,
SBC and Verizon. [See also Bell Operating Company)
Remote Call Forwarding (RCF)
US: A local
exchange carrier (LEC) service that redirects
calls in the telephone network and can be adapted to provide a form of service
provider number portability. If a customer
transfers his or her existing telephone number (NXX-XXXX) from carrier A to
carrier B, any call to that customer is routed to the central office switch
operated by carrier A that is designated by the NXX code of the customer's
telephone number. Carrier A's switch routes that call to carrier B, translating
the dialed number into a number with an NXX corresponding to a switch operated
by carrier B. Carrier B then completes the routing of the call to its customer.
The change in terminating carriers is transparent to the calling party.
Report and Order (R&O)
US: A formal statement
of decisions on new or revised regulations issued by the Federal
Communications Commission, based on its interpretation of the requirements
and limitations of underlying law, and in consideration of the information
obtained through public comment.
Resale
US: The FCC has defined
Resale as "an activity wherein one entity subscribes to the communications
services and facilities of another entity and then reoffers communications
services and facilities to the public (with or without 'adding value') for
profit." [from Regulatory Policies Concerning Resale and Shared Use of common
carrier Services and Facilities, Docket 20097, Adopted July 1, 1976.]
Residual Interconnection Charge (RIC)
Rocket Docket
US: Procedures
created by the FCC in July 1998 (CC Docket 96-238, FCC 98-154) designed to
accelerate FCC resolution of complaints from consumers or phone companies
about other phone companies. The procedures allow for live testimony of witnesses
at FCC 'mini-trials' and provide for the resolution of formal complaints within
60 days. Either party to a complaint may request that the FCC handle the matter
under the Rocket Docket procedures. In deciding whether to put the complaint
on an accelerated track, the FCC may consider a number of factors, including
the effect of the dispute on competition, whether the dispute is one that
can be reasonably resolved within the accelerated time frame and whether an
accelerated proceeding would place an unreasonable burden on one party because
of a substantial resource disparity between parties. Also called 'Accelerated
Docket.' [See 47 CFR Part 1.]
Rural Telephone Loans
US: A loan assistance
program administered since 1949 by the Rural Utilities Service (formerly the
Rural Electrification Administration) available to rural telephone companies
to finance the acquisition, construction and installation of telephone facilities
to furnish and improve telephone service in rural areas. Loans under this
program subsidize telephone companies and cooperatives insofar as the Federal
Government provides loans to the borrower at rates below the cost to the Government
of obtaining those funds. Rural telephone loan subsidies are credited with
contributing to high rural telephone penetration. As of 1996, ninety-six percent
of rural households in the U.S. had telephones.
Rural Health Care Corporation