FCC Seen Targeting October Meeting for Action on Inmate Calling Rates
An FCC inmate calling service (ICS) order could come in October, parties involved in the commission rulemaking told us Tuesday. The commission appears to be looking at taking actions that would effectively reduce many ICS rates, said a participant.
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FCC staff told Securus Technologies Thursday that an order “would be released in the near future,” the ICS provider said without elaborating in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 12-375. An FCC spokesman and a Securus representative we queried this week had no comment. Other participants told us their understanding was the commission was looking to vote on an ICS order at its Oct. 22 monthly meeting. “They want to do it at a meeting, and as things stand now, it’s supposed to be at the October meeting -- and I wouldn’t bet on that,” said the participant. “What might be slowing them down is a desire to do as much as possible. ... It seems we still have a bit of a ways to go.” The tentative agenda for the October meeting is due Oct. 1.
The FCC also has a monthly meeting scheduled for Sept. 17, and some participants wondered if the commission might try to vote on an ICS order then. (The tentative agenda for that meeting is due Thursday.) But other participants said they had received indications the vote was more likely to be pushed back to October.
Responding to petitioners seeking ICS rate cuts, the FCC in 2013, under then-acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, imposed interim caps on interstate ICS rates of 21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents/minute for collect calls. Since then, the commission has been doing a broader review aimed at establishing more-permanent ICS rules, including for intrastate rates. Now-Commissioner Clyburn recently vowed to do her part to finish the job “so that cost will not be the main barrier for families, friends and lawyers when it comes to maintaining contact with those who are incarcerated” (see 1507300067).
One of the rulemaking’s participants told us, “The scuttlebutt is that rates are going to be cut," but the participant didn't know details.
ICS providers and others have made a variety of proposals for FCC actions to control or cut ICS rates and related fees. Global Tel*Link recently said "the unique security and communication service needs of each correctional facility require individual case basis contracts, which leads to different market-based pricing results (e.g., $0.05, $0.12, or $0.20 per minute) among the same or similar ‘type’ of facility.” Because of the different needs, regulators should focus on establishing “a backstop rate cap,” it said.
ICS provider cost data is the best data "for determining a backstop rate cap low enough to protect end users from exorbitant rates, but high enough to allow a market-based solution to take effect,” Global Tel*Link said. "The ICS market is dynamic and requires simultaneous FCC action that establishes non-tiered backstop rate caps for all ICS rates, replaces site commissions with admin-support payments that reflect legitimate costs, and accepts the Joint Provider Reform Proposal backstop rate caps for ancillary charges." Global Tel*Link, Securus and Telmate made joint recommendations last year.