Inmate calling service provider Pay-Tel was...

Inmate calling service provider Pay-Tel was granted a nine-month waiver of the FCC’s interim interstate prison call rate caps, said an order released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1aVHi57). The waiver of the new caps, which took effect Tuesday (CD Feb 12 p12), will give Pay-Tel “sufficient time to pursue any necessary intrastate rate changes” to help it recoup costs it’s facing, now that interstate rates have been capped, said the Wireline Bureau order. In its petition, Pay-Tel said it could not recover its costs “if it is required to charge the Order’s interim interstate rates.” Rate restrictions in several states required Pay-Tel to provide intrastate service at below-average-cost rates. “Because of the interaction between these below-average-cost intrastate rates and the limits imposed by the interim interstate rate cap, Pay Tel asserts that it cannot meet its total company revenue requirement while complying both with our interstate rate caps and the relevant state rate requirements,” the order said. Pay-Tel suggested it would have to either go out of business or close up shop in the smaller facilities it serves. The facts constitute “extraordinary circumstances” that justify a temporary waiver, the order said. Pay-Tel will be allowed to charge 46 cents per minute, which is about double the interstate rate cap adopted by the FCC. The temporary waiver will also give Pay-Tel “an opportunity to address below-average-cost rate mandates at their source -- at the state level and with the individual facilities it serves,” the order said. If the commission takes action on intrastate prison calling caps before the nine months have passed, that new order would supersede this waiver, the bureau said.