Toward international settlement reform: FCC benchmarks versus ITU rates

The global telecommunications service market is undergoing significant change as more countries privatize suppliers, liberalize national markets, and encourage entry. Despite these changes, international settlement rates remain significantly higher than the cost to terminate calls and many carriers reap substantial monopoly profits from the settlement payments they receive. Annual US settlement payments approximate $5 billion. Settlement rates are declining but the progress has been slow. High settlement rates, by raising the cost of international telephone service, result in high calling prices. To accelerate a reduction in settlement rates, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a set of maximum rates, called benchmark rates, which it expects US carriers to use in their settlements with other carriers and created a process designed to insure the implementation of these rates. The FCC benchmark rates vary primarily on the basis of a country's level of economic development. When the FCC took its action, the benchmark rates, which range from 15 to 23¢, were significantly below the rates in effect with most countries. The FCC action was widely criticized even though the rates exceed costs, vary according to countries' levels of economic development, and will be phased in over five years to give countries time to adjust. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) took an unprecedented step of proposing an alternative set of settlement rates for its members. The ITU rates differ significantly from the FCC rates, being much lower for economically advanced countries and significantly higher for less developed countries. The ITU rates vary according to a country's teledensity but the rationale for the ITU categories lacks support. In addition, other, arbitrary categories are part of the plan. Neither the FCC nor the ITU approach to reducing settlement rates address the problem of reforming the international settlement process and replacing it with an economically efficient, market oriented payment scheme. The first stage of the FCC policy went into effect in 1999. Complemented by changing market conditions, the policy has lead to lower US settlement rates, but most rates still exceed competitive market levels. Virtually all US minutes in the FCC's top two income categories comply with the prescribed benchmark rates. In fact, many countries in these two categories have rates with US carriers that are below benchmark levels. Several less developed countries have also negotiated rates with US carriers that conform to the FCC plan. As a result, US carriers benefit from the FCC policy as their average settlement costs decline. These cost reductions make possible lower calling prices but the market structure of US international communications service industry may inhibit the flow-through of these savings to US consumers. US consumer's prices were falling before the FCC acted on settlement rates. The FCC action seems to have increased the pressure to further reduce these rates. At the same time, however, service markets are being increasingly segmented and price discrimination is more widely practiced so only some US consumers benefit from lower settlement rates.