Art discusses regulatory issues, prank call prevention and land management Toll carriers have been putting a lot of pressure on the FCC to mandate that terminating access charges be scrapped. The word from Washington suggests that a draft order dealing with this topic will see the light of day later this year. Other demands are requests by cellular companies for USF subsidies. Getting USF means they have official sanction to provide service at rates below cost. And some states are so ordering. It's not true that traffic delivered to an exchange (terminated) by any given carrier is the same duration as the traffic originated to that carrier. (T/O ratio = 1). Otherwise, toll carriers want to compete by junking their vow to maintain geographic rate averaging. And if minutes are equal, forget about billing. Each local exchange company is not supposed to own any toll? Duh? Local exchange customers cannot pay such terminating expense.   The Beehive Companies of Nevada and Utah have calculated from 2002 cost figures exactly what their local service charges would be if they were to not charge terminating access for use of its toll network. In the 13 exchanges providing service in an area the size of Connecticut, each customer would be required to pay a local service charge of $512 per month. Beehive’s FCC-filed tandem switched transport facility rates are slightly less than NECA’s. They are a net contributor to State USF. As for Federal USF, it’s a wash. Some months give; some months take. The FCC needs to mandate that flat-rate toll carriers serve all exchanges equally (both terminating and originating). In other words, enforce geographic rate averaging. And, LECs must recover related toll expense from their access charges. This would eliminate most USF subsidies. Conference calls Beehive.net invites use of an open conference bridge. One group includes mostly young folks that call themselves the “Phone Losers of America.” Boasted pranks like ordering pizza for false delivery. Or laughing about Joey’s Mom being upset over harassing calls when son gave out her private numbers. When she asked us for assistance, Chuck took an hour and furnished cops with the address of one juvenile. One recent night our operator got a call from one of the kids saying he was from the FBI. Demanded information. Even left a (617) 849 xxxx number. She got Chuck, me and her watch supervisor on. Voice prints. The kid still claimed to be FBI. Chuck told him to get lost. Rights of way The Bureau of Land Management manages most land in the Western United States — land not claimed by settlers in the 1800s. The Rocky Mountains. Areas with no water. Mostly the left-overs. BLM employees mostly find themselves in a tussle over their land management. On the one hand are people who use the land for commercial or recreational use. On the other hand are environmentalists such as the Sierra Club who don’t want the land touched — period. Wars erupted over different opinions about land use decided by regional managers. So, in 1976, Congress created the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA). It has, sort of, guidelines about public land policy. Most land in Western America is in this category. For generations, states and counties have built and maintained roads on said public lands. Utilities run along said roads. Nowadays we may not repair or replace those utilities. Conservation folk have sued permits so often that BLM is scared to do anything. Zealous definition of intent of the 26-year-old FLPMA means no responsibility. It is common for utilities to be held up for years.  BLM is building a new fire station near my Vernon CDO. Its 2500 foot airstrip is marked on public maps. The contractor asked us to move and expand our drops from the old to the new building. Sure. Just sign this right-of-way. Not without a grant exactly like what we must have to replace other cable way out west. Well, it’s a Category IV. The applicant (BLM) pays full administrative costs. A several thousand buck job. Likely take months. Copyright 2003 by A. W. Brothers and Americas Network magazine. All rights reserved.   ©  Beehive Telephone Co.