The Taxes and Fees section of your bill contains a combination of taxes imposed by governmental entities directly on the services you purchase and various fees that CBTS Technology Solutions (“CBTS”) is assessed by various governmental entities and passes on to you, as well as various fees or surcharges that CBTS charges to recover some of its costs of doing business. The following fees are charged by CBTS to recover some assessments it pays to federal and state regulatory agencies and some of its administrative and network operating costs.
Federal Universal Service Fund
The Federal Universal Service Fund (“FUSF”) helps to provide affordable telecommunications services for low-income households and to build-out and maintain telecommunications and broadband networks in rural areas. It also provides discounts on telecommunication services and Internet access for eligible schools, libraries and rural health care providers. All telecommunications service providers and interconnected VoIP providers are required by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to pay a percentage of their revenues from state-to-state and international services into the USF. The FCC sets this percentage on a quarterly basis. CBTS recovers its USF assessment by charging customers a Federal USF charge equal to the percentage set by the FCC for applicable services. The charge may vary each month based on your state-to-state calling patterns and the rate set by the FCC for the federal USF. This charge is a cost recovery fee and not a tax CBTS is required to collect.
Administrative Recovery Fee
The Administrative Recovery Fee (“ARF”) is included on long distance customers’ bills to help defray some of the costs CBTS incurs to comply with federal, state and local telecommunications rules and regulations, some administrative costs associated with providing service, and some taxes and assessments imposed upon CBTS. It does not include costs related to the federal Universal Service fund. This fee may vary each month, but the minimum fee will be at least 4.3% of the long distance charges on your bill, including any recurring monthly service fee. This charge is a cost recovery fee and not a tax CBTS is required to collect.
Carrier Subscription Charge
The Carrier Subscription Charge is assessed to offset some of CBTS’s network facilities costs, including maintenance of those facilities and network access charges that CBTS pays to local telephone companies to originate and terminate long distance calls. The current rate is $1.77/residential telephone number and $1.50/business telephone number associated with your account.
Carrier Cost Recovery Charge
The Carrier Cost Recovery Charge is assessed on VoIP services to help defray some of CBTS’s administrative costs associated with providing service, and some taxes and assessments imposed upon CBTS. This charge is a cost recovery fee and not a tax CBTS is required to collect. This charge is 6.5% of all monthly recurring VoIP-related charges on your bill and any equipment charges billed on a monthly basis.
KY Intraconnection Charge
The KY Intraconnection Charge is assessed to offset the higher costs CBTS incurs for long distance calls that originate and terminate in Kentucky.
Click here for a comprehensive list of all of the taxes and fees that might appear on your bill. Some of these are taxes assessed by a governmental entity on the services you purchase and some assessed by CBTS to recover its costs.