- On June 12, 2012, YMax Communications Corp. filed an opposition to the complaint of AT&T Communications of Maryland LLC at the Maryland Public Service Commission (MPSC) challenging YMax’s new intrastate switched access tariff. AT&T filed its complaint on May 18, 2012, alleging that YMax’s tariff revisions do not comply with the FCC Intercarrier Compensation/Universal Service Reform Order (FCC 11-161) regarding VoIP-PSTN traffic. AT&T argues that YMax’s tariff would allow it to bill interexchange carriers for switching and transport functions provided by LECs other than YMax, although the FCC’s new rules state that “[t]his rule does not permit a local exchange carrier to charge for functions not performed by the local exchange carrier itself or the affiliate or unaffiliated provider of interconnected VoIP service.” 47 C.F.R. § 51.913(b).
AT&T specifically objected to YMax’s tariff language stating that “the provision by the company of any portion of the transport or termination of VoIP-PSTN access traffic shall be considered the functional equivalent of the access service typically provided by an incumbent local exchange carrier, regardless of the technology or network structure employed by the company or the VoIP service provider to perform that function.” AT&T asserted that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission recently suspended and rejected YMax’s Colorado intrastate switched access tariff containing the same language, and that the FCC rejected YMax’s interpretation of the VoIP-PSTN intercarrier compensation rules after YMax submitted a request for clarification on February 3, 2012. In its opposition to AT&T’s complaint, YMax stated that it is willing to remove the provision from its tariff, but it “will continue to rely on the FCC’s rules stating that a local exchange carrier’s ability to impose access charges does not depend on the technology or network structure employed by the carrier or by a VoIP service provider to perform the functions associated with access service.” Docket No. M.L. 138987.
