City of Brookings Municipal Telephone Co. v. Federal Communications Commission

STARR, Circuit Judge:

This case concerns the manner in which certain local telephone companies are reimbursed for providing their subscribers with access to long-distance common carriers. In the order under review, the Federal Communications Commission approved a modified system of reimbursement proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association, the entity obligated under FCC regulations periodically to examine the formulas for compensation and to suggest revisions to those formulas.

Petitioners are twelve small “average schedule” companies, an appellation that we shall presently explain.…