TRANSMITTAL. DATE: November 13, AT&T Corp. and Teleport Communications America, LLC COMPANY NAME: AT&T s Initial Comments SUBJECT MATTER:

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1 TRANSMITTAL DATE: November 13, 2015 COMPANY NAME: AT&T Corp. and Teleport Communications America, LLC SUBJECT MATTER: AT&T s Initial Comments PERSON TO CONTACT: Leo J. Bub General Attorney AT&T Services Inc. 909 Chestnut Street, Room 3558 Telephone: Facsimile: leo.bub@att.com INITIAL FILING: Yes DOCKET NO.: RMU

2 STATE OF IOWA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE UTILITIES BOARD IN RE: ) ) AMENDMENTS TO ) Docket No. RMU TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE ) REGULATIONS [199 IAC 22] ) AT&T s INITIAL COMMENTS AT&T 1 respectfully submits these comments 2 requesting the Board amend its telecommunications rules to (1) recognize that the very nature of non-nomadic Voice over Internet Protocol ( VoIP ) service along with advancements in technology and the convergence of the service with nonregulated communication and collaboration services require the Board to revisit its prior classification of non-nomadic VoIP as a telecommunications service, and instead hold it to be an information service; and (2) phase intrastate originating switched access rates down, over a two-year period, to mirror interstate rates. AT&T s proposed rule revisions are appended as Attachments 1 and 2. I. The Board Should Amend it Rules to Recognize that Non-nomadic VoIP Services are Information Services. AT&T respectfully suggests the Board should go further than merely addressing narrow rule amendments with respect to Item (3) from its October 2, 2015, Order Scheduling Workshop, where it listed for discussion: Rules relating to technology-neutral standards for landline voice services, i.e., VoIP, cable VoIP, and wireline services. To what extent are the rules under 199 IAC 22.5 and 22.6 in need of amendment? 1 AT&T Corp. and Teleport Communications America, LLC refer to themselves collectively as AT&T. 2 AT&T submits these Initial Comments pursuant to the Board s October 30, 2015, Order Extending Time to File Comments in Docket No. RMU

3 Rather, the Board should take this opportunity, with the participation of the entire Iowa telecommunications industry, to revisit the classification it made in two complaint cases nearly five years ago 3 that non-nomadic VoIP service is a telecommunications service. Those prior decisions, which were not open to other parties, involved the VoIP services of only two companies (one of which never got off the ground), and at best presented only very early versions of VoIP and certainly did not reflect the complex services available today. Advancements in technology and the convergence of VoIP service with nonregulated communication and collaboration services will make clear that it should be classified as an information service under FCC precedent and federal law. AT&T s proposed rule revision is appended as Attachment 1. (a) Non-nomadic VoIP Offers an Innovative, Multi-faceted Service that Harnesses the Power of IP Technology to Provide Subscribers with Revolutionary Communications Capabilities. The features and capabilities of non-nomadic VoIP, such as AT&T s consumer U-verse Voice service or its business IP Flexible Reach and Business in a Box services, integrate multiple capabilities including voice calling, voic and messaging, Internet access, , document sharing, video and television to provide end users with unprecedented control over the way in which they communicate. For example, while watching the World Series on U-verse television, U-verse Voice enabled subscribers to place calls through their TV (by calling up and using the TV remote to click an electronically stored telephone number displayed on the TV) to discuss the game as it is played, while browsing the Internet to pull up player batting averages and highlight videos and 3 Sprint Comm ns Co. L.P. v. Iowa Telecommunication Services, Inc., Docket No. FCU (February 4, 2011) and MCC Telephony of Iowa, LLC et al. v. Capitol Infrastructure LLC et al., Docket No. FCU (March 30, 2011), reh g denied (May 11, 2011). 2

4 exchanging , texts and tweets. On the business side, AT&T IP Flexible Reach allows large engineering firms subscribing to the service to conduct IP-based business collaboration sessions, simultaneously employing VoIP to join multiple participants on a conference call; view the current speaker on an IP video feed; jointly create, view and mark up drawings on an electronic white board; and pull up and share blue prints or other schematic diagrams from the web or an in-house data base. 4 AT&T s Business in a Box IP-based service provides similar capabilities for smaller businesses. 5 In both examples, the services being provided to the subscriber are an integrated package that simultaneously traverse a single IP-enabled broadband circuit from the customer s premises. Such integrated services simply will not work with traditional telephone service (also called plain old telephone service, or POTS ), which requires separate dedicated electrical circuits and/or dedicated time slots to connect calls between parties. With IP technology, s, video files, or voice transmissions are packaged into tiny digitized data packets, each of which includes a header that enables it to be routed to its destination over the most efficient broadband path available. Because it does not require dedicated circuits, IP transmission is an exceptionally efficient transmission protocol supporting a host of new and innovative services integrated with voice calling capability, enabling customers to store, access and utilize information in order to manage personal communications dynamically. In its comments in the Board s 2013 NOI, 6 AT&T described various integrated features of its consumer U-verse Voice service, such as the locate 4 Product literature describing AT&T s IP Flexible Reach Service is appended as Attachment 3. 5 Product literature describing AT&T s Business in a Box Service is appended as Attachment 4. 6 AT&T Corp. and Teleport Communications America, LLC Initial Comments, filed May 1, 2013, in Docket No. NOI , incorporated herein by this reference. 3

5 me capability featuring Simultaneous ringing; 7 Reminder; 8 and Unified Messaging. 9 These and other non-nomadic VoIP service capabilities, for both consumer and business segments, have become mainstream and are now offered by a diverse number of providers. 10 Enabled by IP technology, such services allow customers to utilize multiple service features during a single communication session and perform different types of communications simultaneously because the service permits access to different websites or IP addresses during that same session, without regard to geography. (b) The Net Protocol Conversion Inherent in Non-nomadic VoIP Makes It an Information Service Under FCC Precedent and Federal Law. The Supreme Court explained protocol conversion simply as enabling communication between networks that employ different data-transmission formats. 11 Non-nomadic VoIP service, by necessity, performs a net protocol conversion when delivering IP-originated calls to the public switched telephone network ( PSTN ) (and vice versa). Like other VoIP traffic, non-nomadic VoIP calls originate in IP protocol. When they are delivered to a POTS subscriber, those calls undergo a net protocol conversion to enable them to exit the network in a different protocol i.e., in the TDM 12 protocol used on the PSTN. The 7 Simultaneous ringing allows a customer to store multiple numbers (e.g., home, office, cell) that will ring simultaneously in response to an incoming call; whichever phone device is answered first will then receive the call. 8 Reminder allows a customer to use a handset or the Internet to store a specific message for future delivery at a specific time. 9 Unified Messaging permits customers to retrieve voic not only through their telephone handsets, but also through the U-verse Voice web portal, which enables customers to access, reply to, forward, copy, and broadcast messages (and faxes) as he or she would treat ordinary , regardless of the user s current geographic location. U-verse Voice also includes a Live Reply capability that allows the end user, while listening to a voic , to return a call to a third party while maintaining the voic session. 10 Product literature describing Level 3 s Voice Complete service is appended as Attachment 5; a Harvard University whitepaper discussing the Hyper-connected Workforce is appended as Attachment 6; and an AT&T case study focusing on the Kaman Corporation s IP network is appended as Attachment National Cable & Telecomms. Ass n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 545 U.S. 967, 977 (2005). 12 The PSTN uses a protocol known as Time Division Multiplexing, or TDM. 4

6 same happens in reverse when POTS subscribers call non-nomadic VoIP subscribers. In both cases, the calls undergo a net conversion between one end of a call and the other. 13 This single fact - - that non-nomadic VoIP service necessarily employs a net protocol conversion to enable its subscribers to communicate with those served by the PSTN (and vice versa) - - makes it an enhanced service 14 under FCC rules and an information service 15 under federal law. The FCC has ruled that an end-to-end protocol conversion service that enables an end-user to send information into a network in one protocol and have it exit the network in a different protocol clearly transforms user information, and it therefore qualifies as both an enhanced service and an information service under federal law. 16 Three federal district court decisions support this conclusion. In Vonage Holdings, 17 the court concluded that VoIP is an information service and therefore exempt from traditional state common-carrier regulation. The court reasoned that [f]or calls originating with [a VoIP provider s] customers, calls in the VoIP format must be transformed into the format of the PSTN before a POTS user can receive the call. For calls originating from a POTS user, the process of acting on the format and protocol is reversed. 18 Because the service converts the transmitted information from one protocol to another, the court concluded, VoIP fit[s] within the definition 13 Petition for Declaratory Ruling that AT&T's Phone-to-Phone IP Telephony Services are Exempt from Access Charges, WC Docket No , 19 FCC Rcd 7457, 7459, 7465 (2004) (distinguishing a net protocol conversion from IP in the middle ). 14 The federal definition of enhanced service includes services which employ computer processing applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects of the subscriber s transmitted information. 47 C.F.R (a). 15 The statutory definition of information service likewise includes, inter alia, the offering of a capability for... transforming [or] processing... information via telecommunications. 47 U.S.C. 153(24). 16 See, e.g., First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Implementation of the Non-Accounting Safeguards of Sections 271 and 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 11 FCC Rcd 21905, , (1996) ( Non-Accounting Safeguards Order ) (subsequent history omitted). 153(20) (defining information service ). 17 Vonage Holdings Corp. v. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, 290 F. Supp. 2d 993, 999 (D. Minn. 2003). 18 Vonage Holdings, 290 F. Supp. 2d at

7 of information services. 19 Likewise, in SW Bell Tel. v. MoPSC, 20 the federal district court affirmed a Missouri state commission ruling that IP-PSTN traffic is an enhanced service because it involves a net protocol conversion; and in PAETEC, 21 the court found net protocol conversion a determining factor. 22 (c) Non-nomadic VoIP Services Constitute Integrated Service Offerings that Meet the Statutory Definition of Information Service. Non-nomadic VoIP Services, such as AT&T s U-verse Voice consumer service or its IP Flexible Reach business service, also meet the definition of an information service because - - even apart from the net protocol conversion they perform - - they include numerous capabilities that allow the end user to generat[e], acquir[e], stor[e], transform[], process[], retriev[e], utiliz[e], or mak[e] available information via telecommunications. 23 Because those capabilities are part of a single, integrated service, the service as a whole meets the definition of information service under federal law. 19 Id. 20 Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. v. Missouri Public Service Commission, 461 F. Supp. 2d 1055, 1073 (E.D. Mo. 2006), aff d, 530 F.3d 676 (8th Cir. 2008), cert. denied, 129 S.Ct. 971 (2009). 21 PAETEC Commc ns Inc. v. CommPartners, 2010 WL , *3 (D.D.C. 2010) (finding that net protocol conversion is a determinative indicator under the FCC s case law of whether a service is classified as an information service); 22 In addition, 31 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation that prevents the state from regulating VoIP services, including non-nomadic VoIP, as a traditional voice service. These states recognize that there is no public policy reason for subjecting VoIP to legacy regulation: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming U.S.C. 153(24) states: The term information service means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service (a) of the FCC s rules states: For the purpose of this subpart, the term enhanced service shall refer to services, offered over common carrier transmission facilities used in interstate communications, which employ computer processing applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects of the subscriber's transmitted information; provide the subscriber additional, different, or restructured information; or involve subscriber interaction with stored information. Enhanced services are not regulated under title II of the Act. 6

8 For example, U-verse Voice enables subscribers to store and acquire information via a web portal that permits access to change call preferences and contacts and to retrieve their call histories. Unified messaging capability integrated with U-verse Voice allows customers to listen to, store, and forward their messages in a manner comparable to traditional . The Reminder feature similarly permits the end user to store information specifically, a message and to direct the service to deliver that information to a particular number at a particular time. As these features make clear, U-verse Voice enables the end user not just to transmit information, but also to manipulate it to generate it, store it, transform it, access it, utilize it, and make it available to others. These varied capabilities comprise a single, integrated service that requires a single statutory classification. In Brand X, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC s classification of broadband Internet access as an information service on the basis of two conclusions. First, although certain Internet access capabilities enabled end users merely to transmit information, other capabilities including, for example, electronic mail and Web browsing encompass[ed] the capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications. 24 Second, because Internet access providers offer these various capabilities as a single, integrated service, they do not constitute separate services... that should be deemed to have separate legal status Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Inquiry Concerning High-Speed Access to the Internet Over Cable and Other Facilities, 17 FCC Rcd 4798, , (2002) ( Cable Modem Declaratory Ruling ) (quoting 47 U.S.C. 153(20)), aff d in part, vacated in part, and remanded, Brand X Internet Servs. v. FCC, 345 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 2003), reversed and remanded sub nom. National Cable & Telecomms. Ass n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 545 U.S. 967 (2005). 25 Id. at 4821, 36 (quoting Report to Congress, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, 13 FCC Rcd 11501, 11537, 75 (1998)). 7

9 The same analysis applies here. Non-nomadic VoIP services, like AT&T s U-verse Voice or IP Flexible Reach, are integrated, IP-enabled services providing multiple capabilities that combine[] computer processing, information provision, and computer interactivity with data transport. 26 And, as discussed above, those capabilities are fully integrated with voice-calling capability, rendering the service a single, integrated offering with a single legal classification. The FCC emphasized in the Vonage Order that a VoIP subscriber checking voic or reconfiguring service options would be communicating with a... server, while [a] user forwarding a voic via to a colleague using an Internet-based service would be communicating with a different Internet server or user. 27 These functionalities in all their combinations, the FCC stressed, form an integrated communications service. 28 The same is true here. (d) Non-nomadic VoIP Meets the Criteria for Federal Preemption under Vonage. The Board cannot simply restrict its common-carrier regulation to the intrastate portion of a carrier s non-nomadic VoIP service i.e., to communications that originate and terminate in Iowa. Such regulation would inevitably, and impermissibly, reach the interstate portion of the service over which the FCC possesses exclusive jurisdiction. The FCC has stressed that there are no practical means to separate the interstate and intrastate components of VoIP service to enabl[e] dual federal and state regulations to coexist. 29 The Internet s inherently global and open architecture, the FCC has explained, makes jurisdictional determination[] of any IP-based service, including VoIP, difficult, if not 26 Cable Modem Declaratory Ruling, 17 FCC Rcd at 4821, Vonage Order, 19 FCC Rcd at 22420, Id. (emphasis added). 29 Vonage Order, 19 FCC Rcd at 22418, 23. 8

10 impossible. 30 Subscribers using Vonage s service, the FCC emphasized, can utilize multiple service features that access different websites or IP addresses during the same communication session and [can] perform different types of communications simultaneously. 31 These functionalities[,] the FCC determined, form an integrated communications service designed to overcome geography, not track it. 32 Concluding that state regulation of Vonage s service was preempted, the FCC found such regulation would thwart[] valid federal objectives, including the FCC s pro-competitive deregulatory rules and policies governing innovative services like VoIP. 33 The FCC did not limit its conclusion to nomadic VoIP. The FCC stressed that the integrated capabilities and features of VoIP are inherent features of most, if not all, IP-based services having basic characteristics found in [Vonage s] DigitalVoice, including those offered or planned by facilities-based providers. 34 The FCC thus explained that all VoIP services, including non-nomadic services, sharing the following basic characteristics would be equally exempt from state regulation:... a requirement for a broadband connection from the user s location; a need for IP-compatible [customer premises equipment]; and a service offering that includes a suite of integrated capabilities and features, able to be invoked sequentially or simultaneously, that allows customers to manage personal communications dynamically. 35 None of those basic characteristics turns on whether the VoIP service at issue is nomadic or fixed, as the FCC stated, to the extent other entities, such as cable companies, provide VoIP 30 Id. at 22419, Id. at 22419, Id. 33 Id. 15, Id. at 22420, 25 n.93 (emphasis added). 35 Vonage Order, 19 FCC Rcd at 22424, 32. 9

11 services, we would preempt state regulation to an extent comparable to what we have done in this Order. 36 Non-nomadic VoIP possesses each of the three basic characteristics the FCC identified as dispositive in Vonage, warranting federal preemption. First, non-nomadic VoIP require[s] a broadband connection from the user s location. Non-nomadic VoIP services like U-verse or IP Flexible Reach simply will not work over a narrowband channel. Second, non-nomadic VoIP requires IP-compatible [customer premises equipment]. For example, AT&T s U-Verse Voice requires an analog terminal adapter, placed in the customer s home as part of the residential gateway, to originate the end user s communications, including his or her voice communications, in IP format and route them over AT&T s broadband network. AT&T s Business in a Box VoIP service requires an integrated router at the business customer s premise to send both voice and data to the IP network. And third, non-nomadic VoIP includes a suite of integrated capabilities and features, able to be invoked sequentially or simultaneously, that allows customers to manage personal communications dynamically. As detailed above, residential non-nomadic VoIP subscribers can, while watching IP television, place a call through their TV by calling up and clicking an electronically stored telephone number displayed on the TV and carry on a VoIP call - - while also browsing the Internet and exchanging and texts on a computer laptop or tablet. Business non-nomadic VoIP subscribers can conduct business collaboration sessions simultaneously harnessing VoIP conference calling, video presence, electronic white boarding, and document sharing. 36 Id. 10

12 In both examples, the services simultaneously traverse a single IP enabled broadband circuit from the customer s premise, with digitized packets of voice, video, and data intermingled into a single data stream. The packets that make up the transmissions of a customer s U-verse Voice and the other IP-based services riding the broadband circuit are impossible to separately identify and track. Their convergence makes clear why the FCC concluded that jurisdictional determination of any IP-based service, including non-nomadic VoIP, was difficult, if not impossible, and warrants federal preemption. II. Intrastate Originating Switched Access Charges Should Mirror Interstate Rates The Board in this proceeding has asked for comment and discussion on the Originating Carrier Common Line Charge, 199 IAC 22.14(2)(d)(1), specifically asking Should the originating CCLC be eliminated through a phase down over time or eliminated through a flash cut? Elimination of the CCLC has been discussed for a full decade by the Board, starting in RM AT&T was pleased to see the Board eliminate the CCLC for competitive local exchange carriers in its most recent rulemaking RMU and believes now is the time to eliminate the CCLC for incumbent local exchanges carriers. The only decision that remains is whether to eliminate the CCLC through a phase down over time or eliminate it through a flash cut as was described in the Order Scheduling Workshop. AT&T proposes that the CCLC be eliminated in two equal steps, first on July 1, 2016 and the second on July 1, In addition, AT&T suggests the Board go further and require all remaining intrastate originating switched access rates be brought into parity with interstate originating switched 37 AT&T will not repeat the complete history of the Board review of whether the CCLC should be eliminated but requests the Board incorporate the comments of Sprint Communications Company L.P., dated April 27, 2015, in Docket No. RMU , pages 3-4, on this topic. 11

13 access rates. Such reductions will assist with moving these charges toward a level that would be closer to their long run incremental cost and help reduce implicit subsidies. This necessary reform will reduce opportunities for arbitrage, provide greater financial predictability and foster a fairer, more competitively neutral market. These changes will benefit all customers by fostering further innovation and benefits that come from a more robust competitive market. The Board could implement the reductions to all remaining intrastate originating access rates on the same timeframe as the reductions in CCLC -- in two equal steps: the first on July 1, 2016 and the second on July 1, Since this approach is similar to the method the FCC adopted in its Intercarrier Compensation Transformation Order 38 to reform terminating switched access charges on a national scale, all carriers should find it familiar and easy to operationalize (incumbent and competitive LECs have already made several tariff filings to implement the FCC s terminating access charge reductions). Once completed, intrastate originating access rates for traditional TDM calls will be at the same levels as interstate originating access for both TDM and VoIP calls. Therefore there should be no incentive to mischaracterize or misroute calls. The New York Public Service Commission has already taken this action, ordering local exchange carriers to file the first set of tariffs by November 30, 2014, (with January 1, 2015, effective date) to reduce intrastate originating access rates by 50 percent of the differential between those rates and the carriers interstate rates; and to file the second set of tariffs by November 30, 2015, to bring those rates to parity with interstate access rates on January 1, Explaining, the New York Commission stated: While the reductions do not go so far as those established for terminating access charges, they represent a significant improvement over the status quo. By reducing subsidies, they 38 In the Matter of Connect America Fund, et al., Report and Order and Further Notice of proposed Rulemaking, WC Docket No et al., FCC (November 18, 2011) ( ICC Transformation Order ). 39 Order Implementing Access Charge Reforms, Case No. 09-M-0527, 2014 WL at p. 21 (N.Y.P.S.C. October 3, 2014). 12

14 further the goal of fostering the competitive market. These reductions bring New York into line with over 20 other states that have reduced their intrastate access rates to the interstate level. This equivalency means that our action will be entirely consistent and congruent with national reform efforts. 40 Moving intrastate originating switched access rates to interstate parity will also facilitate the FCC s ultimate goal of moving these rates to bill and keep. In the ICC Transformation Order, the FCC stated: 817. Originating Access. We find that originating charges also should ultimately be subject to the bill-and-keep framework. Some commenters urge that originating charges be retained, at least on an interim basis. Other parties express concerns with the retention of originating access charges. The legal framework underpinning our decision today is inconsistent with the permanent retention of originating access charges. In the Local Competition First Report and Order, the Commission observed that section 251(b)(5) does not address charges payable to a carrier that originates traffic and concluded, therefore, that such charges were prohibited under that provision of the Act. Accordingly, we find that originating charges for all telecommunications traffic subject to our comprehensive intercarrier compensation framework should ultimately move to billand-keep. 41 While the FCC only took action in that order to cap interstate originating access charges and intrastate originating access charges for price cap carriers (and sought comments in an FNPRM on an appropriate transition and recovery mechanism for ultimately phasing down originating access charges), 42 the FCC did note that section 261(c) likewise preserves state authority to impose requirements on a telecommunications carrier for intrastate services that are necessary to further competition in the provision of telephone exchange service or exchange access 43 Under the Iowa Code, the Board is required to consider the effects of its decisions on competition in telecommunications markets and, to the extent reasonable and lawful, shall act to 40 Id. at p ICC Transformation Order, para Id. at p. 278, fn Importantly, fn occurs in a textual reference appearing just before the FCC s conclusion that originating access rates must fall to bill-and-keep over time. 43 Id. at pp. 253, 254 and fn

15 further the development of competition in those markets. 44 In addition, the Iowa Code states that to encourage competition, the Board should address issues relating to the movement of prices toward cost and the removal of subsidies in the existing price structure of the incumbent local exchange carrier. 45 After a decade of debating the appropriate level of intrastate access charges, AT&T proposes the Board take action on this very important topic by modifying its rules as suggested in Attachment 2 to these comments. III. The Board Should Schedule a Technical Workshop. During its October 27, 2015, workshop, the Board asked participants filing comments to indicate whether an additional workshop focusing on the various communications technologies would be helpful in assisting in the drafting of proposed rule modifications. In AT&T s view, a technical workshop would be an essential resource that would provide the Board with an understanding of the latest advances in technology, particularly with respect to IP-enabled services like non-nomadic VoIP, and how they work. IV. Conclusion Based on the foregoing, the Board should amend its telecommunications rules to (1) recognize that advancements in technology and the convergence of VoIP services with nonregulated communication and collaboration services require the Board to revisit its prior classification of non-nomadic VoIP as a telecommunications services, and instead hold it to be an information service; and (2) phase intrastate originating switched access rates down, over a two-year period, to mirror interstate rates. 44 See Iowa Code (2) 45 See Id. at (3) 14

16 Respectfully Submitted, By: /s/ Leo J. Bub Leo J. Bub General Attorney AT&T Services Inc. 909 Chestnut Street, Room 3558 Telephone: Facsimile: ATTORNEY FOR AT&T CORP. AND TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE The undersigned certifies that the foregoing instrument was served on this 13th day of November, 2015, to all counsel of record by electronic mail through the Board s electronic filing system. /s/ Leo J. Bub 15

17 ATTACHMENT (3) Definitions. For the administration and interpretation of these rules, the following words and terms shall have the meaning indicated below: Active account refers to a customer who is currently receiving telephone service, or one whose service has been temporarily disconnected (vacation, nonpayment, storm damage, etc.). Adjacent exchange service is local telephone service, including extended area service, provided to a customer via direct facility connection to an exchange contiguous to the exchange in which the customer is located. Average busy-season, busy-hour traffic means the average traffic volume for the busy-season, busyhours. Board means the Iowa utilities board. Business service means the service furnished to customers where the use is substantially of a business, professional, institutional, or occupational nature, rather than a social and domestic nature. Busy-hour means the two consecutive half hours during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled in the office. Busy-season means that period of the year during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled in the office. Calls means telephone messages attempted by customers or users. Central office means a unit in a telephone system which provides service to the general public, having the necessary equipment and operating arrangements for terminating and interconnecting customer lines and trunks or trunks only. There may be more than one central office in a building. Central office access line means a circuit extending from the central office equipment to the demarcation point. Channel means an electrical path suitable for the transmission of communications. Check of service or service check means an examination, test or other method utilized to determine the condition of customer-provided terminal equipment and existing or new inside station wiring. Class of service means the various categories of service generally available to customers, such as business or residence. Competitive Local Exchange Carrier or CLEC means a utility, other than an incumbent local exchange carrier, that provides local exchange service pursuant to an authorized certificate of public convenience and necessity. Customer means any person, firm, association, corporation, agency of the federal, state or local government, or legal entity responsible by law for payment for communication service from the telephone utility. Customer provision means customer purchase or lease of terminal equipment or inside station wiring from the telephone utility or from any other supplier. Delinquent or delinquency means an account for which a bill or payment agreement for regulated services or equipment has not been paid in full on or before the last day for timely payment. Demarcation point means the point of connection provided and maintained by the telephone utility to which inside station wiring becomes dedicated to an individual building or facility. For an individual dwelling, this point of connection will generally be immediately adjacent to, or within 12 inches of, the protector or the dwelling side of the protector. The drop and block, including the protector, will continue to be provided by and remain the property of the telephone utility. In the instance where a physical protector does not exist at the point of cable entrance into the building or facility, the demarcation point is defined as the entrance point of the cable into the building or facility. Disconnect means the disabling of circuitry preventing both outgoing and incoming communications. Due date means the last day for payment without unpaid amounts being subject to a late payment charge or additional collection efforts. Exchange means a unit established by a telephone utility for the administration of communication services. Exchange service means communication service furnished by means of exchange plant and facilities. Exchange service area or exchange area means the general area in which the telephone utility holds 1 P a g e

18 ATTACHMENT 1 itself out to furnish exchange telephone service. Extended area service means telephone service, furnished at flat rates, between end user customers located within an exchange area and all of the end user customers of an additional exchange area. Extended area service is only for calls both originating and terminating within the defined extended area. Foreign exchange service means exchange service furnished a customer from an exchange other than the exchange regularly serving the area in which the customer is located. Former account refers to a customer whose service has been permanently disconnected, and the final bill either has been paid or has been written off to the reserve for uncollectible accounts. Held order for primary service means an application for establishment of primary service to a local exchange utility using its existing facilities to provide service not filled within five business days of the customer-requested date, or within 15 business days of the customer-requested date, where no facilities are available. During the period a local exchange utility provides equivalent alternative service, the customer s order for primary service shall not be considered a held order. Held order for secondary service means an application for establishment of secondary service to a local exchange utility using its facilities to provide service not filled within 30 business days or the customerrequested date, whichever is later. High-volume access service (HVAS) is any service that results in an increase in total billings for intrastate exchange access for a local exchange utility in excess of 100 percent in less than six months. By way of illustration and not limitation, HVAS typically results in significant increases in interexchange call volumes and can include chat lines, conference bridges, call center operations, help desk provisioning, or similar operations. These services may be advertised to consumers as being free or for the cost of a long-distance call. The call service operators often provide marketing activities for HVAS in exchange for direct payments, revenue sharing, concessions, or commissions from local service providers. Inactive account refers to a customer whose service has been permanently disconnected and whose account has not been settled either by payment or refund. Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier or ILEC means a utility, or successor to such utility, that was the historical provider of local exchange service pursuant to an authorized certificate of public convenience and necessity within a specific geographic area described in maps approved by the board as of September 30, Interexchange service is the provision of intrastate telecommunications services and facilities between local exchanges, and does not include EAS. Interexchange utility means a utility, a resale carrier or other entity that provides intrastate telecommunications services and facilities between exchanges within Iowa, without regard to how such traffic is carried. A local exchange utility that provides exchange service may also be considered an interexchange utility. InterLATA toll service means toll service that originates and terminates between local access transport areas. IntraLATA toll service means toll service that originates and terminates within the same local access transport area. Intrastate access services are services of telephone utilities which provide the capability to deliver intrastate telecommunications services which originate from end-users to interexchange utilities and the capability to deliver intrastate telecommunications services from interexchange utilities to end-users. Local exchange service means telephone service furnished between customers or users located within an exchange area. Local exchange utility means a telephone utility that provides local exchange service under an authorized certificate of public convenience and necessity. The utility may also provide other services and facilities such as access services. Message means a completed telephone call by a customer or user. Outside plant means the telephone equipment and facilities installed on, along, or under streets, alleys, highways, and private rights-of-way between customer locations, central offices or the central office and customer location. 2 P a g e

19 ATTACHMENT 1 Percentage of fill means the ratio of circuits and equipment in use to the total available multiplied by 100. Premises means the space occupied by an individual customer in a building, in adjoining buildings occupied entirely by that customer, or on contiguous property occupied by the customer separated only by a public thoroughfare, a railroad right-of-way, or a natural barrier. Primary service means the initial access to the public switched network. Protector means a utility-owned electrical device located in the central office, at a customer s premises or anywhere along any telephone facilities which protects both the telephone utility s and the customer s property and facilities from over-voltage and over-current by shunting such excessive voltage and currents to ground. Rates shall mean amounts billed to customers for local exchange service and alternative operator services. Retail services means those communications services furnished by a telephone utility directly to enduser customers. For an alternative operator services company, the terms and conditions of its retail services are addressed in an approved intrastate tariff. For a local exchange utility, the terms and conditions of its retail services are typically addressed in a retail catalog or other format, which is not subject to board approval. Secondary service means services or facilities not classified as primary service. Suspend means temporary disconnection or impairment of service which shall disable either outgoing or incoming communications, or both. Switching service means switching performed for service lines. Tariff means the entire body of rates, classifications, rules, procedures, policies, etc., adopted and filed with the board by a local exchange utility for wholesale services, not governed by an interconnection agreement or commercial agreement, or by an alternative operator services company for retail services, in fulfilling its role of furnishing communications services. Telephone station means the telephone instrument connected to the network. Telephone utility or utility means any person, partnership, business association, or corporation, domestic or foreign, owning or operating any facilities for furnishing communications service to the public for compensation. A telephone utility or utility will not be subject to Board rules that directly or indirectly regulate the entry, rates, terms, or conditions for internet protocol-enabled service or voice over internet protocol service. Internet protocol-enabled service means any service, capability, functionality, or application that uses internet protocol or any successor protocol and enables an end user to send or receive voice, data, or video communication in internet protocol format or a successor format. Voice over internet protocol service means an internet protocolenabled service that facilitates real-time, two-way voice communication that originates from, or terminates at, a user s location and permits the user to receive a call that originates from the public switched telephone network and to terminate a call on the public switched telephone network. Voice over internet protocol service does not include a service that uses ordinary customer premises equipment with no enhanced functionality that originates from and terminates on the public switched telephone network, undergoes no net protocol conversion, and provides no enhanced functionality to end users due to the provider s use of internet protocol technology. Terminal equipment means all telephone instruments, including pay telephone equipment, the common equipment of large and small key and PBX systems and other devices and apparatus, and associated wirings, which are intended to be connected electrically, acoustically or inductively to the telecommunication system of the telephone utility. Timely payment is a payment on a customer s account made on or before the due date shown: (1) On a current bill for rates and charges, or (2) by an agreement between the customer and a utility for a series of partial payments to settle a delinquent account. 3 P a g e

20 ATTACHMENT 1 Toll connecting trunks means a general classification of trunks carrying toll traffic and ordinarily extending between a local office and a toll office. Toll message means a message made between different exchange areas for which a charge is made, excluding message rate service charges. Traffic means telephone call volume, based on number and duration of calls. Traffic grade of service means the decimal fraction representing the probability of a call being blocked by an all-trunks-busy condition during the average busy-season, busy-hour. Transitional intrastate access service means terminating end office access service that was subject to intrastate access rates as of December 31, 2011; terminating tandem-switched transport access service subject to intrastate access rates as of December 31, 2011; and originating and terminating dedicated transport access service subject to intrastate access rates as of December 31, Trouble report means any call or written statement from a customer or user of telephone service relating to a physical defect or to difficulty or dissatisfaction with the operation of telephone facilities. Wholesale services means those communications services furnished by one telephone utility to another provider of communications services. The terms and conditions of wholesale services may be addressed in a telephone utility s approved intrastate access tariff, local interconnection tariff, interconnection agreement reached under Sections 251 and 252 of the federal Telecommunications Act, or in a commercial agreement reached between the providers. 4 P a g e

21 ATTACHMENT (476) Intrastate access charge application, tariff procedures, and rates (1) Application of intrastate access charges. a. Intrastate access charges shall apply to all intrastate access services rendered to interexchange utilities. Intrastate access charges shall not apply to EAS traffic. In the case of resale of services of interexchange utilities, access charges shall apply as follows: (1) The interexchange utilities shall be billed as if no resale were involved. (2) The resale carrier shall be billed only for access services not already billed to the underlying interexchange utility. (3) Specific billing treatment and administration shall be provided pursuant to tariff. b. Except as provided in 22.14(1) b (3), no person shall make any communication of the type and nature transmitted by telephone utilities, between exchanges located within Iowa, over any system or facilities, which are or can be connected by any means to the intrastate telephone network, and uses exchange utility facilities, unless the person shall pay to the exchange utility or utilities which provide service to the exchange where the communication is originated and the exchange where it is terminated, in lieu of the carrier common line charge, a charge in the amount of $25 per month per circuit that is capable of interconnection. However, if the person provides actual access minutes to the exchange utility, the charge shall be the charge per access minute or fraction thereof provided in 22.14(2) d (1), not to exceed $25 per line per month. The charge shall apply in all exchanges. However, if the person attests in writing that its facility cannot interconnect and is not interconnected with the exchange in question, the person will not be subject to the charge in that exchange. (1) In the event that a communication is made without compliance with this rule, the telephone utility or utilities serving the person shall terminate telephone service after notice pursuant to subrule 22.4(5). The utility shall not reinstate service until the board orders the utility to restore service. The board shall order service to be restored when it has reasonable assurance that the person will comply with this rule. (2) In any action concerning this rule, the burden of proof shall be upon the person making intrastate communications. (3) This rule shall be inapplicable to administrative communications made by or to a telephone utility (2) Filing of intrastate access service tariffs. a. Tariffs providing for intrastate switched access services shall be filed with the board by a local exchange utility which provides such services. A local exchange utility whose tariff or concurring tariff does not contain automatic reductions to implement the applicable transitional intrastate access service reductions shall file revised transitional intrastate access services rates with the board to become effective on or about July 1 of each year until such terminating rates are removed from the tariff. A competitive local exchange carrier that is required to benchmark its intrastate access service rates to the rates of an incumbent local exchange carrier shall file revised transitional intrastate access rates with the board to become effective on or about August 1 of each year until such terminating rates are removed from the tariff. Unless otherwise provided, the filings are subject to the applicable rules of the board. b. Except in situations involving HVAS, a local exchange utility may concur in the intrastate access tariff filed by another local exchange utility serving the same exchange area. However, a competitive local exchange carrier may not concur in the intrastate access tariff of an incumbent local exchange carrier that qualifies as a rural telephone company pursuant to 47 U.S.C. 153(44) unless the competitive local exchange carrier also is a rural CLEC pursuant to 47 CFR 61.26(a)(6). (1) Alternatively, a local exchange utility may voluntarily elect to join another local exchange utility or utilities in forming an association of local exchange utilities. The association may file intrastate access service tariffs. (2) All elements of the filings, under rule (476) including access service rate elements, shall be subject to review and approval by the board. c. Rescinded IAB 2/7/90, effective 3/14/90. d. All intrastate access service tariffs shall incorporate the following: (1) Carrier common line charge. The rate for the intrastate originating carrier common line 1 P a g e

22 ATTACHMENT 2 charge for incumbent local exchange carriers shall be three cents per access minute or fraction thereof until June 30, 2016; shall be one and one half cents per minute or fraction therof effective July 1, 2016; and shall be eliminated on July 1, 2017.for the originating segments of the communication unless a lower rate is required by the transitional intrastate access service reductions or if numbered paragraphs 1 and 2 are applicable. The carrier common line charge shall be assessed to exchange access made by an interexchange telephone utility, including resale carriers. In lieu of this charge, interconnected private systems shall pay for access as provided in 22.14(1) b. 1. Incumbent local exchange carrier intrastate access service tariffs shall not include the carrier common line charges for the terminating segments of a communicationapproved by the board. 2. A competitive local exchange carrier shall deduct the carrier common line charge from its intrastate access service tariff. (2) End-user charge. No intrastate end-user charge shall be assessed. (3) Universal service fund. No universal service fund shall be established. (4) Transitional and premium rates. There shall be no discounted transitional rate elements applied in Iowa except as otherwise specifically set forth in these rulesoriginating Access Service. Incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers shall maintain originating access charges in accordance with numbered paragraphs 1 and Effective July 1, 2016, notwithstanding any other provision of this section, intrastate originating access charges shall be reduced by 50% of the differential between the intrastate originating access charges effective on May 1, 2016, and the carrier s interstate rates for comparable service in effect on July 1, Effective July 1, 2017, nothwithstanding any other provision of this section, intrastate originating access charges shall be set at parity with the carrier s interstate rates for comparable service in effect on July 1, 2017, and shall remain at parity thereafter. (5) Rescinded IAB 10/14/15, effective 11/18/15. (6) A telephone utility may, pursuant to tariff, bill for access on the basis of assumed minutes of use where measurement is not practical. However, if the interexchange utility provides actual minutes of use to the billing utility, the actual minutes shall be used. (7) In the absence of a waiver granted by the board, local exchange utilities shall allow any interexchange utility the option to use its own facilities that were in service on March 19, 1992, to provide local access transport service to terminate its own traffic to the local exchange utility. The interexchange utility may use its facilities in the manner and to a meet point agreed upon by the local exchange utility and the interexchange utility as of March 19, Changes mutually agreeable to the local exchange utility and the interexchange utility after that date also shall be recognized in allowing the interexchange utility to use its own local access transport facilities to terminate its own traffic. Recognition under this rule will also be extended to improvements by an interexchange utility that provided all the transport facilities to an exchange on March 19, 1992, whether the improvements were mutually agreeable or not, unless the improvements are inconsistent with an agreement between the interexchange utility and the local exchange utility. (8) A provision prohibiting the application of association access service rates to HVAS traffic. e. A local exchange utility that is adding a new HVAS customer or otherwise reasonably anticipates an HVAS situation shall provide notice of the situation, the telephone numbers that will be assigned to the HVAS customer (if applicable), and the expected date service to the HVAS customer will be initiated, if applicable. Notice may be sent to each interexchange utility that paid for intrastate access services from the local exchange carrier in the preceding 12 months; to any carrier with whom the local exchange carrier exchanged traffic in the preceding 12 months; and to all other local exchange carriers authorized to provide service in the subject exchange, by a method calculated to provide adequate notice. Any interexchange utility may request negotiations concerning the access rates applicable to calls to or from the HVAS customer. Any interexchange utility that believes a situation has occurred or is occurring that does not specifically meet the HVAS threshold requirements defined in subrule 22.1(3), but which raises the same general concerns and issues as an HVAS situation, may file a complaint with the board pursuant to these rules. A local exchange utility that experiences an increase in intrastate access billings that qualifies as an HVAS 2 P a g e