What Consensus? NARUC Intercarrier Compensation Taskforce Update

Last Friday, the NARUC Intercarrier Compensation Taskforce announced that "it had received support from enough stakeholders for the industry plan to proceed with a Task Force review."

Since that press release, consumer advocates, cable operators, wireless providers, and competitive LECs have announced that they did not endorse the so-called "Missoula Plan."

So, how much support is "enough" to have an "industry plan"? Apparently, support from AT&T (or should we say AT&T, BellSouth, and SBC) and some rural LECs is enough to create "consensus." From our perspective, this "industry plan" is probably better characterized as an incumbent LEC plan.

The leadership of the NARUC Taskforce has done an admirable job of trying to develop a consensus plan over the last two years. But an incumbent LEC plan is an incumbent LEC plan.