VOL. 12, NO. 45
November 28, 2016
UPCOMING EVENTS

April 3-5
The INCOMPAS Show
Morial Convention Center
New Orleans

October 15-18
The INCOMPAS Show

MEMBER NEWS
FCC DEADLINES

December 2

December 19

December 27 
January 23 
INCOMPAS Show to Expand Buyers Forum in New Orleans
In 2017, The INCOMPAS Show is expanding its Buyers Forum, which debuted in Dallas last month. The Buyers Forum is designed to connect vendors with key buyers so they can meet and seal deals during the show, and attend targeted sessions that can help them build their businesses.

The first Buyers Forum in Fall 2016 was a success for buyers and vendors alike, giving them dedicated time and direct connections to the right people.

"Often there isn't enough time during the conference to meet with everyone that requests meetings," said Nick Sgroi, vice president of Voice Solutions & Strategy at Bandwidth. "The INCOMPAS Buyers Forum introduced us to a number of potential vendors in a single, time restricted setting that was far more productive than organizing individual meetings with each vendor."

"We sincerely appreciate INCOMPAS putting some focus on the 'buy side' of the conference," added Gray Weinacker, manager of Vendor & Cost Analysis for Southern Light. "Putting an emphasis on those that make financial decisions and planning events to encourage their continued/increased participation in INCOMPAS is an excellent strategy to drive up attendance of those individuals selling to those decision makers. We're looking forward to next year!"

If your company is interested in participating in the Spring 2017 INCOMPAS Buyers Forum, April 3-5 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, please email Samantha Edidin or call 312-673-5685.

Spring 2017 Registration Opening Soon!
Registration for the Spring show will open in mid-December. Get a jump on planning for next year by registering early and taking advantage of discounted rates. Stay tuned to future issues of the newsletter or visit The INCOMPAS Show website for more details. 

D.C. Circuit Vacates, Remands VoIP Symmetry Ruling
On November 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated and remanded for further explanation the FCC's VoIP Symmetry Declaratory Ruling.

The issue in dispute in the Declaratory Ruling was the refusal of AT&T and Verizon to pay competitive LECs one element of access charges, namely end-office switching charges, when the CLEC is partnering with an over-the-top VoIP provider. The ILECs claimed that end-office switching entails the "physical" work of connecting trunks to loops. They asserted that, as result, neither the competitive LECs, nor their VoIP provider partners, provide either end office switching or the "functional equivalent" of end office switching. In its Declaratory Ruling, the Commission clarified that the Commission's VoIP symmetry rule does not require a competitive LEC or its VoIP provider partner to provide the physical last-mile facility to the VoIP provider's end user customers in order to provide the functional equivalent of end office switching. Consequently, the Commission concluded competitive LEC to be eligible to assess access charges for this service when partnering with over-the-top (OTT) VoIP providers.

AT&T challenged the Commission decision in the Declaratory Ruling, arguing the services were tandem switching, which has a much lower prescribed rate. The Court found that "the Declaratory Ruling does not disclose the Commission's reasoning [for finding these to be end-office switching services] with the requisite clarity to sustain its conclusion." Specifically, the Court found that the order's functional equivalence analysis failed to distinguish between end-office switching and tandem switching. As such, the Court vacated and remanded the order to the Commission for further explanation.