38.5.3403    ALLOWABLE RATE

(1) Pursuant to 69-3-1102 and 69-3-1105 , MCA, an operator service provider may not charge more than an allowable rate, which is a rate for intrastate calls, inclusive of the call rate, aggregator surcharge, and all other calling fees, established by the commission for each category and type of service provided by an operator service provider.

(2) Except for cost-based allowable rates provided in ARM 38.5.3404 the allowable rate for each category and type of service provided by operator service providers will be established by the commission annually. The allowable rate for each category and type of service will be the average of the intrastate rates charged for each category and type of operator service provider service by AT&T, MCI, and CenturyLink, plus 50%.

(3) The categories and types of service for which allowable rates will be established are:

(a) assisted calls including operator dialed calling card; collect call; third party billed; person to person; operator dialed called number; and customer dialed calling card, non-company;

(b) message telecommunications service interLATA calls per minute (if the operator service provider has more than one per minute rate, e.g., distance, time of day, and so forth, "per minute" will be the average per minute); and

(c) message telecommunications service intraLATA calls per minute (if the operator service provider has more than one per minute rate, e.g., distance, time of day, and so forth, "per minute" will be the average per minute).

(4) Before an operator service provider may provide a service not identified in this rule, a cost-based allowable rate must be established for that service in accordance with ARM 38.5.3404.

History: 69-3-103, 69-3-1103, MCA; IMP, 69-3-201, 69-3-1101, 69-3-1102, 69-3-1105, MCA; NEW, 1999 MAR p. 2081, Eff. 9/24/99; AMD, 2004 MAR p. 2934, Eff. 12/3/04; AMD, 2015 MAR p. 1508, Eff. 9/25/15.