[asterisk-biz] CLEC formation was Re: MagicJack

Tue Mar 25 10:35:50 CDT 2008

Beware of this one: Google eric brown clec


>From: Trixter aka Bret McDanel <trixter at 0xdecafbad.com>
>Reply-To: trixter at 0xdecafbad.com,Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk 
>Discussion<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
>To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk 
>Discussion<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
>Subject: [asterisk-biz] CLEC formation was Re:  MagicJack
>Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:23:56 +0100
>
>
>On Tue, 2008-03-25 at 08:00 -0500, Mike Hammett wrote:
> > Tell them I sent you.
> >
> > http://www.lokt.net/
> > > On Friday 21 March 2008 12:29:38 pm Nitzan Kon wrote:
> > > So how does one get CLEC status?  Say, in only one state?  Just
> > > curious....
> > > <evil grin>
> > >
>
>I dont have experience with this firm, but I do agree with its
>sentiment, that its generally better to hire lawyers and/or consultants
>to help people along given that there is a TON of filings that generally
>have to be done, and they have to be done right.  The law firm should
>specialize in telecom law, just as you want a heart surgeon to
>specialize in hearts, and wouldnt have a angioplasty performed by a
>podiatrist.
>
>Just knowing what filings have to be filed is important, and they have
>to be filed in a specific order, do them out of order and you may have
>to start over on some things, miss one and it can cost you months of
>trying to refile stuff.  The process on a good day takes 6-9 months on a
>bad day well over 24 months.  With many of the things you have to submit
>them for approval (tariffs for example, some states even the
>interconnection agreements have to be approved).  There are shortcuts
>and a good consultant or lawyer will know them and use them to your
>advantage (such as basically taking already approved tariffs from
>someone else and replacing their name with yours, speeds the approval
>process).
>
>Then once you have your CLEC status you have to continue to file stuff,
>pay taxes and fees, etc.  And each state has its own regulations (50
>states, DC is a territory, as are a few other territories  not
>considered US generally, puerto rico, guam, US virgin islands, etc).  If
>you traffic minutes across LATAs you have to get IXC status which has
>its own regulations, taxes and fees.  All of these things are generally
>exempt from VoIP providers (although the line is blurring with the
>"interconnected VoIP provider" rules).
>
>In addition to the state you have to file federally too, so even one
>state has at least 2 governments that you have to file with.  To do
>CONUS (US48 + DC) you have 50 governments to file with, taxes are
>different per state, and CLECs are generally exempt from all subsidies
>as well (ie NECA), but they have to pay to the fund.
>
>Its a regulatory quagmire.  I personally dont recommend it unless its a
>real business need, and compensation generally isnt a good enough need
>because almost all CLECs see almost no compensation per minute.  The FCC
>cap on intercarrier compensation is generally 0.0007/min iirc, with some
>special exceptions that are almost impossible for a CLEC to fit into.
>
>Of course with anything there are alternatives and sometimes it takes
>someone who has been down that road and discovered some of them to show
>all the short cuts that are available.  There is power in this
>information, a point not lost on consulting firms that specialize in
>clec formation.  That is why many CLEC consultants charge no less than
>$50k to share their knowledge.
>
>--
>Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
>Belfast +44 28 9099 6461        US +1 516 687 5200
>http://www.trxtel.com the phone company that pays you!
>
>
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