More info on USF: http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/
Like some of you on this list, I work for a small service provider with expenses related to telecom of less than $100,000 per year. This qualifies us under the rules in 499A as a "de minimis" telecom provider, and thus we do not have to contribute USF directly. One of my providers is charging me USF on all termination and origination products. Since my provider likely needs to pay USF to their providers, I have to pay the USF. But with so many entities involved in a single phone call or origination call, how many times are we paying USF to the US Gov't? Additionally, for small companies who do not need to contribute directly, does this exempt us from paying providers who do need to contribute directly to the USF fund from having to pay our providers that USF fee? L3 (pays USF directly) -> Tier 2 Provider (pays USF directly) -> Small Biz (does not pay directly) In this scenario, the Small Biz is forced to pay the Tier 2 provider USF fees. In turn, does L3 charge the Tier 2 provider USF fees? Or is Tier 2 exempt from paying USF to L3 because Tier 2 now pays USF directly to the FCC? If the Small Biz then qualifies to pay USF directly to the FCC, do they stop paying the USF fee to the Tier 2 provider? Can the Small Biz request NOT to pay USF fees and say they will take care of the USF fees directly, but because they are a de minimis provider, simply pay none directly to the USF? All of this USF stuff has my head spinning. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Beckman Internet Guy [email protected] http://www.angryox.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- AstriCon 2009 - October 13 - 15 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
