Carrier charges

This fee is a monthly charge to customers or other telephone companies by a local telephone company for the use of its local network.

What are access rates?

When you make a long distance call, your long distance carrier must pay the local exchange carrier (CenturyLink) for starting, or originating, the call. In addition, your long distance carrier must pay the telephone company that provides local service to the person you are calling to complete the call. The charges that the long distance provider pays to CenturyLink to originate the call and the other local exchange company to complete the call are referred to as "access," as in the access the long distance provider must get to the local network.

Why is this charge on my bill even if I don't make long distance calls?

Local exchange companies incur significant costs to provide service to their customers. The access revenues that local exchange companies receive from long distance companies help offset some of those costs to keep the cost of local service affordable. As the costs are associated with local service, the FCC determined that it was appropriate to allow local exchange carriers to recover a portion of the lost access revenues from their customers.

What reductions to access rates are being made?

In an Order released on November 18, 2011, the FCC required local exchange carriers to reduce the rates they charge to long distance companies to complete or terminate long distance calls. The current system that is used by long distance companies to compensate local companies for use of the local network was first established in 1984, after the AT&T divestiture, and at a time when there was no competition for local service. Much has changed since 1984 and the FCC recognized that this system did not work well when there is competition for local service. In addition, the FCC believes the current system may make it difficult to develop and use new technologies, such as internet protocol networks.

Long distance carriers are getting reductions in their costs, but my costs are increasing because of the ARC? Why is this fair?

The access revenues that local exchange carriers receive from the long distance carriers help offset the cost of providing local service. The FCC determined that the customer chooses to place a long distance call and the long distance carrier that is used; therefore the customer should bear more of the cost.

Why aren't cable companies implementing an ARC?

The FCC's order provided that only incumbent local exchange carriers may recover a portion of the lost access revenues from an ARC charge. While cable companies will also see access reductions, no provision was made to permit cable companies to implement an ARC charge.

For CenturyLink Internet customers, these charges offset the costs associated with flowing high-speed data across the various networks and backbone carriers both nationally and internationally.

The DTS (Digital Transport Service) Port is a connection that does not include the facility between the customer's premises and the DTS serving office. The charge is comparable to the ISDN PRI Port charge.

The DTS Port Charge is applied in addition to Subscriber Line Charges (SLC). DTS Port Charges do not represent any new hardware or new service components. They are part of the construct for SLC charge application — 5 SLCs plus a DTS port charge — in accordance with how the charges applied to ISDN PRI circuits.

These charges are mandatory for this service; they are part of the SLC/EUCL (End User Common Line) cost recovery structure.

Who put it on the bill?

The charges are placed on the bill by CenturyLink based on a ruling by the United States Congress via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1983.

Provides funding for Expanded Local Calling services to allow a larger local calling area for certain customers, primarily those in rural areas.

Expanded local calling (ELC) service allows customers primarily in rural exchanges to have a larger local calling scope. For many rural areas, services within much of the community of interest (schools, doctors, county government, and hospitals) were outside the normal local calling areas, and calls to these locations were long-distance. Cities or customers within local calling areas can petition for ELC calling to adjacent exchanges. Petitions must confirm a community of interest with signatures and majority of customers that will encounter additional charge for extended calling must agree. If the cost of providing ELC service exceeds the revenues the company offering the service receives, state law allows the telephone company to surcharge all of its customers in the state to cover the lost revenue.

Who put it on the bill?

State Legislature

Who gets the money?

The local telephone companies providing ELC service to their customers get the revenue for recovery of cost of providing the services including the loss revenue associated with converting previously long-distance calling to local calling. Companies must submit their cost recovery amounts for Commission approval.

Also known as:

• ELC Surcharge

This charge is assessed in several states to recover the cost when government entities require that CenturyLink's network facilities and lines be relocated, such as when new roads are established or highways are widened.

How is it calculated?

We take the cost of required relocations for the prior year and divide by the number of lines provided to business and residential customers. Each month, a portion of the total for each line is applied to the bill. As a result, these charges can be expected to fluctuate or even disappear, year to year, as dictated by the needs of your state's infrastructure.

What states are affected?

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Florida
• Idaho
• Indiana 
• Iowa
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Nevada
• North Carolina 
• North Dakota
• Oregon 
• South Dakota
• Tennessee 
• Utah
• Washington 
• Wisconsin

This surcharge keeps local phone service affordable for all Americans by providing discounts on services to schools, libraries, and people living in rural and high-cost areas.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates all telecommunications companies, set up the Universal Service Fund in 1997. All long distance companies, local telephone companies, cellular companies, paging companies and pay phone providers that provide service between states contribute a percentage of the total amount they bill to the fund. As a telecommunications company, CenturyLink contributes to this fund, and we recover our cost in the form of this charge, as allowed by the FCC.

What is the money used for?

The money is used to help organizations like schools, libraries, and rural health care providers that operate in high-cost areas by giving them discounts on telecommunications services. The fund supports programs that provide discounted essential service and free service installations to income-eligible families.

Part of the money also helps keep your local telephone service reasonably priced. The Universal Service Fund is one source that helps make it possible for telephone companies to service remote areas without having to raise everyone's rates. It's more costly for telephone companies to provide service in remote or rural areas than it is in densely populated cities.

Is the charge the same each month?

The amount could vary because the charge is a percentage of the total dollar amount of your phone-related services.

Who determines the amount?

The FCC sets the percentage amount and can change the amount once a quarter.

This fee helps defray costs associated with building and maintaining CenturyLink's High-Speed Internet broadband network, as well as the costs of expanding network capacity to support the continued increase in customers' average broadband consumption.

Is it new?

The ICRF has been on customer bills for several years in many of our service areas.

How much is it?

It is $3.99* per month, per internet connection. If you have two high-speed internet (HSI) lines, you will be charged $3.99 for each line for a total of $7.98.

*The Internet Cost Recovery fee for the state of Washington is $1.99.

Who does it apply to?

It applies to CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers with the exception of High-Speed Internet customers with Price for Life.

Also called:

• Broadband Cost Recovery Fee

CenturyLink charges this fee when a residential customer chooses one of our long distance plans. It does not, however, apply to international long distance. The fee is applied as a single charge per account.

Who gets the money?

This is used by CenturyLink to recover some of the costs of offering long distance service.

Also called:

• National Access Fee
• Presubscribed Line Charge

Local Number Portability (LNP) allows customers to change local services providers within a service territory without having to change telephone numbers.

By allowing a customer to retain his or her telephone number, regulators believe that it removes a major barrier to competition. The service, however, required telephone companies' networks to undergo reconfiguration to be able to process the network call path so that a customer changing telephone companies did not have to change telephone numbers. Some believed that customers would be less likely to go to a different service provider or new competitor if it meant they had to change telephone numbers.

It doesn't mean you can take your phone number anywhere. It just means you can take your number from company to company serving the same service territory.

Who gets the money?

Local telephone companies, for recovery of the costs they incurred for creating new facilities, upgrading the network to accommodate number portability, and to recover the recurring costs of providing portability. When applying for LNP surcharge authority, the local companies must prove that all fees relate directly to provision of LNP.

CenturyLink charges this fee when a residential or business customer chooses CenturyLink as their long distance carrier for calls outside their local toll calling area. The fee is applied monthly to each line on the account.

Who gets the money?

This is used by CenturyLink to recover some of the costs of offering long distance service.

Who is affected?

This charge is applied to CenturyLink residence customers with CenturyLink long distance services on a monthly basis.

Previously called:

• National Access Fee
• Presubscribed Line Charge
• Access Line Charge
  
• Carrier Cost Recovery Charge

Assessed per access line for connecting your telephone line to your long-distance carrier.

This is a per-line charge for connecting your telephone access line to the preferred or presubscribed long distance carrier. If you have a long distance carrier, the charge is assessed by that carrier. If you use a "10-10-XXX" carrier but are not pre-subscribed to that carrier, the carrier cannot charge you the PICC. However, if you don't have a long distance carrier assigned to your local telephone account, the local carrier can charge the PICC.

Who authorized this charge?

The United States Congress, via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), authorized telephone companies to assess this charge effective January 1, 1998.

Where do the funds from this charge go?

The revenues from this charge go to the company collecting it to assist in providing long distance service to its customers.

The charge can have various labels for the different long-distance companies.

It may also be known as:

• National Access Fee (MCI)
• Carrier Line Charge (AT&T)
• Pre-subscribed Line Charge (Sprint)

The Property Tax Allocation (also sometimes called the Carrier Property Tax) is applied to interstate and international services, fixed monthly charges, and variable usage fees. CenturyLink applies an allocation charge to customers' monthly bills in order to recover a portion of the property taxes it must pay to provide telecommunications services to businesses and homes around the country.

Federal Regulatory Recovery Fee

The Federal Regulatory Recovery Fee is a percentage of interstate and international usage. It helps recover the amount paid to the federal government for regulatory costs and telecommunication services for the hearing-impaired.

Universal Service Fund (USF) Administrative Fee

This administrative fee is applied to all interstate and international charges to recover internal administrative costs incurred by CenturyLink in conjunction with its Universal Service Fund contributions.

Assessed to corporations, such as private utility companies, that conduct business in the state for use of public rights-of-way. Law allows the assessed companies to recover the expense via customer fees.

Who gets the money?

State's General Revenue Fund

Also known as:

• Cost of Service Surcharge
• Business and Occupation Tax

This portion of interstate long-distance rates pays for some of the cost of the local portion of the telephone network.

The subscriber line charge helps local telephone companies recover some of the costs associated with connecting telephone lines to your home or business. Long distance carriers take advantage of those local lines to connect their long distance calls, and this charge contributes the infrastructure needed to make the telecommunication system work. Regulated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), this fee is assessed to all incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) end users.

History

This flat monthly charge was established by a U.S. congressional ruling related to the 1983 Bell System settlement. It was intended to reduce the level of access charges long distance providers pay local phone companies for the use of local networks, therefore promoting competition among long distance providers.

Also known as:

• FCC-Approved Customer Line Charge
• FCC Subscriber Line Charge
• Interstate Subscriber Line Charge
• Customer Subscriber Line Charge
• Federal Line Fee
• Interstate Access Surcharge