BellSouth Eliminates $2.97 DSL Regulatory Fee

BellSouth will eliminate a $2.97 per month charge associated with consumer DSL service, agreeing to pass on the savings that began when a federal regulatory fee expired earlier in August. According to media reports, the decision followed a set of letters sent by the FCC to BellSouth and Verizon informing them of forthcoming investingations into potential violations of truth-in-billing laws. At issue is whether operators are continuing to collect regulatory fees that the government is no longer assessing.



As described on BellSouth's website, the broadband fee was designed to recover a number of costs remaining from previous regulatory obligations and other network expenses that increase the cost of the Internet services we provide to consumers.



BellSouth said its DSL Internet service customers will see this change on their bills within a week, although it will take up to six weeks to implement this change for all of customers. Any payments attributable to this fee will be credited back to August 16, 2006.

http://www.bellsouth.comhttp://www.fcc.gov