Verizon's MCI Accepts FCC Conditions for Waiving U.S. Benchmark Rate for Cuba

MCI agreed to FCC conditions for waiving a U.S. benchmark termination rate for Cuba as specified in a 2011 TeleCuba waiver order and 2012 international settlements policy reform order, MCI parent Verizon told the commission in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 10-95. Cuba didn't accept the U.S. benchmark rate of 19 cents per minute for terminating calls, preventing direct U.S.-Cuba calling for years (indirect calls were routed through other countries). Under the 2011 and 2012 FCC orders (here and here), U.S. carriers can exceed the benchmark rate and pay up to 84 cents a minute to terminate calls in Cuba if they adhere to various conditions, including that they reach nonexclusive interconnection agreements with Cuban carrier Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A.. The agreements must state the parties intend to reduce the termination rates toward or below the benchmark rate over time and take at least one significant step in that direction. IDT Telecom and Sprint reached three-year agreements in 2015 (here and here) that generally set termination rates of 60 cents per minute for U.S.-to-Cuba traffic and 15 cents per minute for Cuba-to-U.S. traffic.