legal

Definitions of Fees & Charges

E-911 Emergency Service Fee — This fee is mandated by the parish government where the customer lives. This fee maintains the E-911 system which enables callers to dial 911 to connect to a public safety answering point for emergency assistance without a charge. This is a flat rate fee that varies for each parish and for business and residential customers.

End User Charge (End User Common Line Charge) — A charge created and regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designed to recover a portion of the costs of connecting customers to the nationwide telephone network.

FCC Local Number Portability Charge — The FCC requires that local telephone companies make telephone numbers portable from carrier to carrier, allowing customers who switch their local carrier to maintain the same phone number. All local telephone companies are required to provide this capability and are allowed to recover the cost of doing so through the FCC Local Number Portability Charge.

Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) — See Universal Service Fee (USF) below.

Federal Subscriber Fee — This is a regulatory fee cable providers collect on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to recover the FCC’s annual expenses for cable regulation.

Franchise Fee (Municipal Fee) — Most communities require a franchise agreement between the community and the telecommunications provider. The agreement allows the company to utilize the public right-of-ways for cable, poles, and other facilities. In return, the company must pay a negotiated fee. The fee is calculated as a percentage of revenues.

Line Recovery Charge (LRC) — The Line Recovery Charge is a monthly charge to recover the costs associated with access charges, property taxes, and the expenses associated with regulatory proceedings and compliance. This charge is not a tax or fee required by the government.

Local Access Charge — A charge designed to recover a portion of the costs of connecting customers to the nationwide telephone network. This charge is offset by a reduction in charges by long distance service providers.

Mississippi Emergency Telecommunication Training Charge — A surcharge to fund the initial and continuing training of E911 personnel.

Network Access Charge (NAC) — This charge is used to pay for underlying network providers and equipment used to transport long distance service. The Network Access Charge is only charged for business customers if there is billable long distance usage for the month. The Network Access Charge is charged for residential customers regardless of billable long distance usage.

State Subscriber Line Charge — A state tariffed charge that pays for the facilities between the customer’s location and the telephone company’s switching office.

Regulatory Cost Recovery — A surcharge to fund the relay center that assists the hearing and speech impaired to communicate with telecommunications providers. Such fees or charges assessed by REV are a pass-through of charges assessed by the applicable regulatory agency.

Telecommunications for the Deaf Fund — This tax pays for a statewide government-mandated program that provides deaf, deaf/blind or similarly handicapped people with access to public telecommunication services and assistive hearing devices and aids.

Touch Tone Charge — Touch-Tone® (TTR) is a tone signaling service, used by simply pressing buttons on the phone. It permits the use of “#” and “*” symbols, which are used to access other services (i.e., computer and banking services). The benefits of TTR include:

• Reduces or eliminates dialing errors
• Accesses other services faster
• Allows easier, faster access to services such as Call Return and Repeat Dialing
• Reduces the number of digits “dialed” to access speed services over the number of digits used with rotary service
• Allows customers to interact with computer and banking services
• Provides necessary dialing capability for modem dialing
• Provides the ability to activate home answering machines

Trouble Determination Charge — The Trouble Determination Charge is the charge which applies for each dispatch required in connection with a customer’s service difficulty or trouble report when it is determined that the source of the difficulty or trouble is on the customer’s side of the demarcation point. This charge does not include any further isolation work beyond the Company specified demarcation point.

Universal Service Fee (USF) or Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) — This charge pays for government-mandated subsidies such as, making local phone service affordable to low-income people and those living in rural and other high-cost areas. It also assists schools, libraries, and rural health care providers in obtaining affordable telephone and Internet service. Such fees or charges assessed by REV are a pass-through of charges assessed by the applicable regulatory agency. More information can be found at the Universal Service Adminstration Company’s website.

Definition of Taxes

City/Municipal/Local Sales Tax — A tax imposed by a local jurisdiction on the sale of tangible personal property or specific services deemed taxable by law. The tax rate varies by jurisdiction.

Federal Excise Tax — A 3% communications tax imposed by the U.S. government on amounts paid for local telephone service, local tolls, teletypewriter exchange service.

Parish Sales Tax — A tax imposed by a parish/county on the sale of tangible personal property or specific services deemed taxable by law. Telecommunications is a service that is considered taxable. The tax rate varies by parish/county.

State Sales Tax — A tax imposed by the state on the sale of tangible personal property or specific services deemed taxable by law. Telecommunications is a service that is considered taxable. The tax rate varies by state.

Telecomm Sales Tax — A tax imposed by the state on telecommunications services, such as local and toll (long distance) telephone and private communication services, wireless phone services, teletypewriter and computer exchange services, and connection charges. The current rate is 3% for intrastate calls (calls made within the state) and 2% for interstate calls (calls made state to state).