CLECs Should Begin De-Tariffing Process for BDS

Companies must de-tariff BDS in Price Cap areas by August 1, 2020

Competitive LECs (CLECs) should be preparing now for the August 1, 2020, deadline to de-tariff their Business Data Services (BDS), better known as special access services, in Price Cap areas. As part of this process, companies also must proactively remove the BDS terms and conditions from their tariffs (see JSI’s March 16, 2018 e-Lert for more information on this required deadline).

Once this de-tariffing occurs, CLECs will no longer be protected from rate disputes under the filed-rate doctrine. Companies will want to ensure that all BDS customers have contracts that state the rates, terms and conditions for each existing BDS service and all new BDS services installed to protect the CLEC in case of a billing dispute. All rates, terms and conditions implemented by CLECs must be non-discriminatory and the FCC will collect data every three years to validate this. It is likely that all contracts with customers will need to be disclosed to the FCC during the data collections.

The next FCC data collection will be in 2020.  In the previous data collection, companies had to provide each circuit that was in service by month, speed, customer, service term, rate charged by rate element, and provide general information on how price discounts were developed.

Now that the BDS transition is underway, CLECs should start implementing customer agreements with established rates, terms and conditions. With an eye toward establishing such agreements, JSI will host a webinar to analyze which terms and conditions will be advised. More information on this webinar is still to come.

If you have questions about the BDS de-tariffing deadline or what your company will need to do before next August, please contact a member of our team by clicking the button below.

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