Golden Belt Telephone Association, Inc. - Page 8

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          "financial and administrative service."  In the Matter of                   
          Detariffing of Billing & Collection Servs., 102 FCC2d at 1168.              
          Therefore, the FCC would not regulate B & C services under Title            
          II of the Communications Act.  Id. at 1169.                                 
               In reliance upon the 1986 Detariffing Order, the IRS ruled             
          in Tech. Adv. Mem. 91-11-001 (Apr. 23, 1989) (the TAM), that    B           
          & C services were not "communication services" for purposes of              
          section 501(c)(12)(B).  The issue in the TAM was whether an                 
          exempt telephone cooperative's revenues, including B & C                    
          revenues, should be treated as member income, nonmember income,             
          or excludable income under section 501(c)(12)(B).  Id. The TAM              
          chronicled the treatment B & C services had received from the FCC           
          since the divestiture of AT&T in 1984.  At first, the FCC                   
          regulated the rate of return for B & C services that local                  
          cooperatives offered to long-distance carriers.  However, in a              
          1985 Detariffing Notice, the FCC                                            
               tentatively concluded that third-party billing and                     
               collection was "essentially a financial and                            
               administrative service," not "inherently a                             
               communications service" and accordingly proposed to                    
               "detariff" billing and collection provided to third                    
               parties.  * * *                                                        
          Id.  In 1986, the FCC cemented its conclusion of 1985 and                   
          determined that B & C services were not "inherently a                       
          communications service" under Title II of the Communications Act.           
          Id.  The FCC also required separate accounts for B & C revenues.            
          Id.                                                                         





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