The FCC approved an Order on Friday requiring Aureon Network Services to provide the data necessary to determine customer refunds for what the agency says are unlawful rates the company charged for transmitting telecommunications traffic.
Aureon aggregates traffic from small local carriers in Iowa and connects their calls to other networks. To do so, Aureon charges its customers a tariffed rate.
“The law requires that these rates are ‘just and reasonable’,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during the vote. But in decisions in 2018 and 2019, the FCC found that Aureon’s tariffed rate missed this statutory mark and overcharged its customers. The agency is now requiring the carrier to file cost data so the Wireline Competition Bureau can calculate customer refunds.
“To be clear, when this kind of thing happens, carriers typically voluntarily file a refund plan. Aureon did not. So today we exercise our authority to compel them to do so,” said Rosenworcel.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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