Business Phone Service

Federal Universal Service Fund charge: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates all telecommunications companies, set the Universal Service Fund up in 1997. All long distance, local telephone companies, cellular companies, paging companies and pay phone providers that provide service between states contribute a percentage of the total amount they bill to the fund. The money is used to help schools, libraries, rural health care providers and telephone companies that operate in high cost areas. The fund supports programs that provide discounted essential service. Part of the money also helps keep your local telephone service reasonably priced. It’s less costly for telephone companies to provide service in cities than it is in more remote rural areas that have small populations. The Universal Service Fund is one source that helps make it possible for telephone companies to service remote areas without having to raise everyone’s rates. The FCC sets the amount of the USF charge. The federal Universal Service Fund charge is collected and remitted to the Universal Service Fund administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company.

Regulatory cost recovery charge: Mandatory federal regulatory charges to fund FCC programs such as Local Number Portability (LNP), for keeping your current local telephone numbers when switching from one service provider to another at the same location; Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), to help pay for relay services that transmit and translate calls for people with hearing or speech disabilities; Interstate Telecommunications Service Provider (ITSP) regulatory fees, collected to cover the regulatory costs associated with the FCC’s enforcement, policy and rulemaking, user information, and international activities; and the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANP), a numbering plan for the public switched telecommunications networks within the United States, Canada, and participatingCaribbean countries. All telecommunications carriers and interconnected VoIP providers in the United States shall contribute to meet the costs of establishing numbering administration Regulatory cost recovery charge is collected and remitted to the FCC.

E-911 charge: The 911 Emergency Service Fee provides funding for the operation of 911 emergency telecommunications services in your area. Emergency personnel must have the capability to identify the location of a caller when they dial 911. The fee, which is applied per access line, funds communications systems that support emergency and quick response police, fire and ambulance services with identification of phone number and location. Customers pay for this service and other 911 communication costs through state and county 911 surcharges. Not all counties have the 911 system yet, but may collect for future implementation. E-911 charge is collected and remitted to the state.

Taxes: Taxes include state and local sales and use taxes and are imposed by your state government. Taxes are collected and remitted to the state. Maryland Universal Service Trust Fund: This surcharge funds the Universal Service Trust Fund (USTF) designated to underwrite the expenses associated with the operation and maintenance of Maryland Accessible Telecommunications Program (MAT) which provides specialized customer telephone equipment to qualifying disabled individuals; the NewsLine Reading Service; and the Maryland Relay Service which provides dual party relay service to participants at a comparable level of access and quality that a standard telecommunication service provides to a person without a hearing or speech disability. The Fund is administered by Telecommunications Access of Maryland under the Maryland Department of Information Technology. The surcharge for each fiscal year is determined by the Secretary of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) and the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC).

Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee: The charge recovers Bloofiber’s costs associated with federal, state, and local filing requirements, protection of intellectual property, and more.