CenturyLink Says Proposed ICS Rate Caps Still 'Unrealistic'; NCIC Disputes Hamden
CenturyLink said the FCC's inmate calling service rate caps still would be too low even if it increases them as proposed in a draft order tentatively scheduled for an Aug. 4 vote (see 1607140087). CenturyLink officials discussed a fact sheet…
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on the draft order on reconsideration with an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. "CenturyLink noted that it recognizes the value of inmate calling in keeping families connected and has supported reasonable reform efforts to benefit consumers. However, it explained that the Fact Sheet’s rate cap for prisons remains unrealistic when compared with the demonstrated costs of providing service at some institutions, even without applying commissions required by the state," said the telco's filing. Network Communications International Corp. said it disagreed with a recent filing by Michael Hamden, a criminal defense attorney whose petition for reconsideration the FCC has cited in proposing its latest order. Hamden said creating a "discrete, interim facility cost-recovery mechanism at a modest increase in per-minute calling rates ... can work, but only if all other payments to correctional facilities are prohibited," particularly site commissions (see 1607250027). "NCIC fully supports the Commission’s decisions to cap interstate and intrastate per minute inmate calling rates, as well as ancillary fees. Those decisions appropriately constrain ICS rates; thus, the Commission should reject Mr. Hamden’s proposal to prohibit or limit site commission payments," said an NCIC letter. It said Hamden's rationale for such a ban is misguided because he "mistakenly identifies site commissions as the 'underlying cause of dysfunction' in the ICS market when they are actually the product of an unregulated environment that permitted high rates and fees." NCIC said site commissions will decrease once the order goes into effect (the 2015 rate caps have been stayed in court pending further judicial review of challenges on the merits). It also said: Hamden's cost-recovery proposal doesn't work for all facilities; lower rates will lead to higher call volume and higher facility costs; if site commissions are curbed, ICS providers will find other ways to offer incentives to facilities; and regulating site commissions, which NCIC believes the FCC lacks authority to do, would jeopardize other reforms.