Access Charge Reform; Price Cap Performance Review for Local Exchange Carriers; Transport Rate Structure and Pricing; Usage of the Public Switched Network by Information Service and Internet Access Providers

On December 23, 1996, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this docket, seeking comment on how the interstate access charge regime should be revised in light of the local competition and Bell Operating Company entry provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and state actions to open local markets to competition, the effects of potential and actual competition on incumbent LEC pricing for interstate access, and the impact of the Act's mandate to preserve and enhance universal service. In this Report and Order, the Commission adopts many of the rules it proposed. These rule revisions are intended to foster competition, move access charges over time to more economically efficient levels and rate structures, preserve universal service, and lower rates.