Forbes​.com Quotes Kelley Drye’s Telecom Law Monitor Blog

Forbes​.com quoted Kelley Drye’s Telecom Law Monitor blog in an article, ​“FCC Finds MagicJack Can’t Collect Access Charges from AT&T.” The article discussed the FCC ruling last week supporting AT&T in a case against Voice over IP (VoIP) provider MagicJack. MagicJack provides a USB dongle to customers that offers a full year of local and long-distance service without any additional charges. In addition to this service, the company generates some of its revenue from the related competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC),YMax. YMax billed AT&T fees for originating and terminating calls involving MagicJack customers, but AT&T challenged those fees in a complaint to the FCC. The FCC ruled that AT&T did not have to pay because YMax’s description of the fees did not cover the calls in question.

Forbes​.com quoted the Telecom Law Monitor blog entry titled ​“FCC Rules VoIP Provider May Not Collect Access Charges,” which noted this ruling as a narrow one. ​“It ruled only that the CLEC’s tariff language did not apply to the traffic,” not that voice over IP services in general are not subject to access charges. ​“The primary lesson of the case is that a VoIP provider must carefully consider the description of its services, and not necessarily use ​‘cookie cutter’ tariffs designed for traditional PSTN traffic.”