Billing FAQ
- What is the federal "subscriber line charge" (SLC)?
- What is the Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC)?
- Where do the federal SLC and FUSC fees go?
- What does "universal service" mean to me?
- How does the universal service support system work?
- Do all local telephone companies receive universal service support?
- What is the (STATE) Universal Service Charge?
- What does the E 911 charge cover?
- What is the Local Number Portability (LNP) Charge?
- What is the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Charge?
- What taxes are included on my bill?
What is the federal “subscriber line charge” (SLC)?
The Federal Communications Commission authorizes local telephone companies to recover a portion of the costs of the facilities we use to connect your home or business for services through a monthly assessment on all residential and business customers.
Commonly known as the federal “subscriber line charge,” this assessment is part of the FCC’s effort to support competition in the telecom market. The federal SLC is a flat monthly charge assessed directly on your bill.
In July 2003, the federal SLCs for customers of community based telecom providers increased to a maximum of $6.50 for residential and single-line business customers, and as much as $9.20 per line for multi-line businesses. The SLC levels of community based telecom providers are the same as those assessed by larger, urban companies.
The FCC established the federal SLC as a way to reduce the “access charges” paid by long-distance companies but still compensate local companies for the use of our networks by those carriers to gain “access” to their customers. For competitive purposes, the FCC decided to make end-user customers more directly responsible for the costs incurred in providing them service and that the “access charges” paid by long-distance companies should be reduced. Thus, it is important to note that the SLCs result in no additional revenue for local telephone companies.
What is the Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC)?
The “Federal Universal Service Charge” (FUSC), also authorized by the FCC, is not part of your local service rate. The purpose of this charge is to help to keep rates affordable for all Americans, regardless of where they live.
The amount of the FUSC on your monthly bill depends on the services you order and the number of telephone lines you have. In most cases, it is applied as a percentage of the interstate and international toll charges you incur each month.
The federal government maintains national programs to support universal telephone service. The federal Universal Service Fund assists with the costs of providing “affordable” telecommunications service to low-income individuals and to residents in rural, high-cost areas. In addition, Congress has expanded the program to help schools, libraries, and rural health care providers obtain leading-edge services, such as high-speed Internet access. All providers of telecom services contribute to the support of these universal service programs.
Where do the federal SLC and FUSC fees go?
The SLC and FUSC fees go to federal administrative agencies created to oversee and manage the funds. The federal SLC fees are re-distributed to local telephone companies based on our specific costs.These funds enable community based telecom providers serving isolated, high-cost rural areas to recover some of the costs of the facilities used to connect your home or business.
The FUSC fees allow us to recover our assessments for the federal universal service programs. A portion of the funds collected from the Federal Universal Service Charge is distributed to keep rates in high-cost rural areas at or near the national average.
What does “universal service” mean to me?
For the last 70 years, the nation has made a policy commitment to make telephone service available to as many Americans as possible – rich or poor, rural or urban.
When Congress passed the Communications Act in 1934, it established the concept of universal service as a principle to promote the development and reach of the national telephone network by distributing costs across various services and users in order to connect all segments of the American public.
Universal service recognizes the economic reality that the cost of providing telephone service in rural areas is significantly higher than in well-populated, urban parts of the country, but that the nation as a whole benefits from a network that connects as many Americans as possible.
We can look on universal service as a system by which everyone benefits because everyone else has a telephone. Thanks to universal service, all Americans, no matter where they may live, have been assured of quality telephone service at reasonable rates.
How does the universal service support system work?
Traditionally, long-distance carriers paid access charges to local companies for “access” to the local network to enable customers to make or receive long-distance calls. These access-charge dollars reflected a legitimate cost of business, compensating local companies for the long-distance carriers’ use of our networks.
Universal service support and access charge revenues are essential to community based telecom providers. These programs help companies serving rural areas keep local rates affordable and comparable to rates in urban areas where the population is more densely clustered and costs are not as high.
We continue to rely on this support today, given the costs of the equipment and facilities necessary to make new and advanced services available to rural customers.
Do all local telephone companies receive universal service support?
No, all local companies do not qualify for this support.
While most telecom providers contribute to universal service, the companies that serve large cities and urban markets are not likely to qualify for federal Universal Service Fund support. Thus, through their SLC and FUSC payments, customers of large urban-based companies are helping to keep local rates “comparable” and “affordable” for those served by community based providers and other rural companies. This mutual social benefit is the very objective that universal service was designed to achieve.
What is the (STATE) Universal Service Charge?
In addition to federal programs, some states collect fees to support their own universal service programs.
Like other telecom providers in (STATE), we collect fees for the (STATE) Universal Service Fund that is administered by the (STATE PUC). The (STATE) Universal Service Charge supports universal service programs within our state. Most, if not all, telecom providers in the state contribute to the (STATE) Universal Service Fund to help keep basic local rates affordable for all state residents.
The (STATE PUC) authorizes telecom providers to recover their universal service contributions through a customer surcharge. The (PUC) uses the (STATE) Universal Service Fund to ensure that companies in high-cost areas have sufficient financial support to keep basic local rates affordable for all (STATE) citizens.
As with federal support programs, the (STATE) Universal Service Fund is distributed to individual companies based on the costs we incur in serving our particular areas of the state.
What does the E 911 charge cover?
The E-911 charge is a state/local government charge to fund emergency-911 services, such as fire and rescue.
What is the Local Number Portability (LNP) Charge?
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires that telecom providers allow customers to keep their existing telephone numbers when they switch from one service provider to another.
The Local Number Portability (LNP) charge is a fixed, monthly charge established by the FCC to allow local companies to recover some of our costs to provide telephone number “portability” to customers.
What is the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Charge?
Local telephone companies offer Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) to help hearing- or speech-impaired individuals communicate via the telephone.
TRS is required by Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act and to the extent possible, must be “functionally equivalent” to standard telephone services. Communications assistants (CAs) relay the content of calls between users of special text telephones (TTYs) and users of traditional telephones. For example, a TTY user can use the phone by calling a TRS provider (or relay center), where a CA will place the call to the voice user and relay the conversation by transcribing spoken content for the TTY user and reading text aloud for the voice user.
Costs for intrastate TRS (that is, TRS calls made within a state) are paid by the individual states. Generally, states recover the TRS costs through a small assessment on all telephone customers in the state. The TRS charge is used to fund the relay centers and special equipment that assist hearing- and speech-impaired persons to communicate.
Costs for interstate TRS (state-to-state TRS calls) are paid through the Interstate TRS Fund, which is supported through contributions from all interstate carriers.
What taxes are included on my bill?
Your bill includes the 3% federal excise tax levied by the federal government that applies to all telecom services, not just local service.
In addition, many state, local, and/or municipal governments impose taxes on telecom services and, if applicable, these taxes are listed on your bill. In some states, these charges may appear as a “gross receipts” or “franchise” tax.
