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Leslie Bonacum
847-267-7153
mediahelp@cch.com
Neil Allen
847-267-2179
neil.allen@wolterskluwer.com

New Book Delivers The Inside Story And Implications Of FCC’s Landmark Telephone Access Charge Reforms

Industry Players and Influencers Speak Out on What Changes Will Mean

(WASHINGTON, D.C., August 22, 2000) – When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a plan earlier this year to restructure the access charges that long distance carriers pay local phone companies, it set in motion one of the largest and most complex changes to the telecommunications industry in modern history. To help make sense of these changes and what they mean to the industry, its shareholders and its customers, Telecommunications Reports International (TRI) has just published Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges. ($179, 150 pages. To order, call 1-800-822-6338 or visit the TRI web site at www.tr.com).

A five-year plan to change the way long distance carriers pay for access to local telco networks was proposed by the industry Coalition for Affordable Local and Long Distance Service. The compromise reached by the carriers included a $3.2 billion annual reduction in the fees paid by the long distance industry, created a new $650 million Universal Service fund and restructured consumers’ phone bills. The FCC adopted the plan in May.

In Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges, TRI, the leading telecommunications publisher and a unit of CCH INCORPORATED (CCH), offers a plain-English, comprehensive look at what this regulatory change will mean throughout the industry.

"For years, there’s been an ongoing war of words between the local and long distance carriers over the appropriate level of access charges," said Victoria Mason, editor in chief of TRI’s flagship Telecommunications Reports, the journal of record for the telecommunications industry. "Through the coalition these two sides finally were able to reach some agreement, but many complicated questions remain about how the new rules will affect the telecommunications industry. The controversy isn’t over."

Through in-depth conversations with industry players – including regulators, industry association executives and consumer group advocates – Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges tackles these issues:

  • What’s required to implement the plan?
  • What will happen at the end of the five-year period? Will the plan even last that long?
  • What is the financial fallout for telecom companies and their customers?
  • Will the changes make access charges more compatible with the introduction of new technologies and services?
  • Will the FCC be able to hold AT&T and Sprint to their promises to pass on savings from access charge reductions to consumers?
  • Will consumers really be better off under the new rules?
  • As the nation’s small telcos develop their own plan for rule changes affecting them, what disputes are likely to arise?

Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges also provides the full text of the initial CALLS proposal filed with the FCC and the revised final plan, as well as additional background documents, including a study by the FCC on the expected effect of the regulatory changes.

Availability and Pricing

The 150-page Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges is $179, plus applicable shipping, handling and tax. For more information or to order, call 1-800-822-6338 or visit the TRI web site at www.tr.com.

About TRI and CCH INCORPORATED

Telecommunications Reports International, based in Washington, D.C., is the most respected provider of telecommunications industry news and analysis. Since 1934, executives and policy-makers have relied on TRI’s comprehensive coverage and analysis of major industry issues and events. TRI is part of the Business and Finance Group at CCH INCORPORATED, a leading provider of tax and business law information and software. The TRI web site can be accessed at www.tr.com.

CCH has served more than four generations of business professionals and their clients, covering a wide range of legal and compliance topics including securities, insurance, banking, telecommunications, trade regulations and government contracting. CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer. The CCH web site can be accessed at www.cch.com. The CCH Business and Finance Group web site can be accessed at http://business.cch.com.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Members of the press interested in a review copy of Changing the Rules: The Future of Telephone Access Charges should contact Leslie Bonacum, 847-267-7153 or bonacuml@cch.com.

       


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