Regulatory Service Fees

Regulatory Service Fees

SFI may adjust its rates and charges, or impose additional rates and charges against Customer's invoices in order to recover amounts that it, either directly or indirectly, pays to or is required by governmental or quasi-governmental authorities to collect from others to support statutory or regulatory programs, plus associated administrative costs. Examples of such programs include, but are not limited to, the Universal Service Fund, the Primary Interexchange Carrier Charge, Number portability agencies, property taxes and compensation to payphone service providers for the use of their payphones to access SFI Toll-free Service.

Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) Charge

Services provided pursuant to this Service Guide (not including the exempt Services listed below) are subject to monthly Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) Charge will be applied as a percentage against the Customer's total net interstate and international charges, after application of all applicable discounts and credits and cannot be discounted. With respect to charges billed on or after April 1, 2003, the USF percentage will be equal to (subject to rounding) the quarterly Universal Service Fund contribution factor established by the Federal Communications Commission and in effect for that bill period. The applicable quarterly contribution factor can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/omd/contribution-factor.html/.

The charge will appear as a separate, identified line item on Customer's invoice, and the maximum applicable USF contribution factor from which the charge is calculated is found at the link provided above. The Federal Communications Commission establishes the Universal Service Fund contribution factor on a quarterly basis, and the FCC may change the factor on less than 14 days notice.

SFI will waive the USF Charge with respect to specifically identified SFI charges to the extent that the Customer demonstrates to SFI's reasonable satisfaction that:

• the Customer either, (a) has filed a Universal Service Worksheet with the Universal Service Administrator covering the twelfth month prior to the month for which the Customer seeks the waiver (i.e., to be eligible for a waiver in February 2001, the Customer must have filed a Universal Service Worksheet with the Universal Service Administrator covering February 2000), or (b) was not required to file a Universal Service Worksheet covering such period, either because it was not then providing telecommunications Services or because it was then subject to the FCC's de minimis exception to the FCC's filing requirement;
• the charges with respect to which the waiver is sought are for Services purchased by Customer for resale; and the Customer either (a) will file a Universal Service Worksheet with the Universal Service Administrator in which the reported billed revenues will include all billed revenues associated with the Customer's resale of Services purchased from SFI for the period during which the waiver is sought or (b) will not be required to file a Universal Service Worksheet covering such period, because it will be subject to the FCC's de minimis exception to the FCC's filing requirement.

The Federal USF Charge will not be waived with respect to:

• charges for Services purchased by Customer for its own use as an end user; or
• charges for which the bill date is on, prior to, or within thirty days after, the date on which the Customer applies for a waiver with respect to those charges; or
• charges for Services resold by the Customer, if the Customer (or another provider that buys Services directly or indirectly from the Customer) is not subject to direct universal service contribution requirements.

In the case for Customers who are billed by a Local Exchange Company other than SFI , SFI may, at its option, may mark up the charge of a particular call to account for USF in lieu of having the USF assessed as a separate line item on the bill.

Where charges are not identified on a jurisdictional basis, for example, monthly recurring charges for rate plans under SFI Mobile Services, the USF rate will be applied against the amount of the charge that SFI reports as subject to the FCC's quarterly Universal Service Fund contribution factor.

South Carolina Universal Service Charge

The South Carolina Universal Service Charge is a monthly charge, applied subject to billing availability. The South Carolina Universal Service Charge is equal to Customer's total net interstate and intrastate charges for Service at Customer Sites within the state of South Carolina, after application of all applicable discounts and credits, multiplied by 3.143%, and cannot be discounted. The South Carolina Universal Service Charge is not subject to any waiver or exemption.

Gross Receipts Tax Allotment

When utility or telecommunications assessments, franchise fees, privilege, license, occupational, excise, or other similar taxes or fees, based on interstate receipts or assets are imposed by certain taxing jurisdictions upon SFI or upon 3rd party providers and passed on to SFI through or with interstate access charges, the amounts of such taxes or fees will be billed to Customers in such a taxing jurisdiction on a prorated, pass-through basis. The amount of charge that is prorated to each Customer's bill is determined by the interstate telecommunications services provided to and billed to a Customer service location in such a taxing jurisdiction with the aggregate of such charges equal to the amount of the tax or fee imposed upon or passed on to SFI .

Property Tax Surcharge

Services provided pursuant to this Service Guide are subject to an undiscountable monthly charge applied to recover property tax assessments and related fees imposed by jurisdictional taxing authorities upon local exchange carriers, and related charges incurred from SFI's underlying carriers. The Property Tax Surcharge is equal to Customer's total net charges for all Services and applicable Surcharges multiplied by 2.34%.

Federal Regulatory Fee

A Federal Regulatory Fee of 2.14% will be applied to all interstate and US billed international charges, excluding taxes, to recover amounts paid to the federal government for regulatory costs and telecommunications services for the hearing impaired (excludes Telecommunication Relay Services).

Universal Cost Recovery Mechanism (UCRM)

The Universal Cost Recovery Mechanism is a monthly charge to recover for access-related costs and municipality costs that cannot be recovered in a traditional line-item, per circuit/per service use basis including, but not limited to, increases due to FCC or other governmental or regulatory actions or judicial determinations made in connection with incumbent local exchange carrier charges for such circuits. The UCRM is 1.75% of the Customer's total net charges, after application of all applicable discounts and credits and cannot be discounted.

This charge is not utilized to recover overhead costs of regulatory compliance.

Regulatory Compliance Fee

Services provided pursuant to this Service Guide are subject to monthly recurring Regulatory Fee. The Regulatory Fee recovers a portion of SFI's internal costs associated with the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund. As a result of a Decision by the FCC on December 13, 2002, beginning on April 1, 2003, carriers may collect this type of expense and the charge must be reflected as a separate line item. The Regulatory Fee is 1.18% of the Customer's total net charges, after application of all applicable discounts and credits and cannot be discounted.

SFI will waive a portion or all of the Regulatory Fee with respect to specifically identified SFI charges to the extent that the Customer demonstrates to SFI's reasonable satisfaction that they have met the requirements to be exempt from the State and Federal Universal Service Fund contributions, State & Local taxes and other applicable charges managed by SFI Regulatory Fee.

Network Build Recovery Surcharge

This surcharge may be assessed on a per-line or per-service basis to assist in recovery of network build out costs incurred by SFI, or as passed through by a local exchange carrier, or SFI's underlying carrier.

AT&T Federal Access Recovery Fee ("FARF") Surcharge

Since July 2008, AT&T enacted a surcharge called a "Federal Access Recovery Fee" (a.k.a. "FARF") to offset the charges related to the delivery of local access services. The surcharge only applies to the loop component (typically T-1/DS3/Ethernet access lines) provided by AT&T to connect to your SFI services. The fee is currently 9.0% and is adjustable on thirty (30) days notice from AT&T. All Wholesale and Retail clients are charged this fee.

Effective September 1, 2011, all in-service AT&T access lines of wholesale and retail SFI customers will bear a line item AT&T FARF surcharge. All non-AT&T access lines and non-Internet circuits remain unaffected.

Please reference the following web page on the Internet at the AT&T Service Guide Web Site at

https://www.corp.att.com/access_reform/faqs.html for an explanation of the charge.

Access Recovery Fee

Access Recovery Fee is a non-exemptible monthly charge applied on a per line basis, and any related charges incurred from SFI's underlying carriers, and is related to the Federal Intercarrier Compensation Rules that set the rates charged between carriers for telecommunications traffic. The Access Recovery Fee is equal to the total of applicable local access monthly charge multiplied by 4.99%. The private line Access Recovery Fee is equal to the total of all private line charges multiplied by 2.49%.

Carrier Administration Fee

Carrier Administration Fee is a non-exemptible monthly charge applied to defray costs incurred from local telephone companies for call delivery to their end users, as well as fees and assessments on network facilities and services, and any related charges incurred from SFI's underlying carriers. The Carrier Administration Charge is equal to Customer's total charges for all Services and applicable Surcharges, multiplied by 0.90%.

Unauthorized Carrier Change Charge

If (a) SFI receives a complaint that a Customer that is a telecommunications carrier (or that a telecommunications carrier on whose behalf the Customer has acted) has caused a change in a telecommunications subscriber's PIC without prior valid authorization, (b) the Customer has submitted an order to change the subscriber's PIC, and (c) the Customer fails to provide adequate proof of authorization for that carrier change within fifteen days after SFI makes a written request therefor, then the Customer will be required to pay an Unauthorized Carrier Change Charge for each such PIC change order, as listed below.

For each unauthorized order, per billed telephone number the following applies:

Service
Unauthorized Carrier Change Charge
networkSFI Services
$250.00
For all other services
$150.00

Payphone Use Charge

In addition to all other charges for services under this Service Guide, an undiscountable payphone use charge of $0.56 shall apply to each coinless call which SFI can identify as placed from a domestic payphone. This charge is for the use of the payphone instrument to access SFI toll-free service.

PICC Fee

Customers of Voice Outbound 1+ Switched service provided pursuant to this Service Guide are subject to a Primary Interexchange Carrier Charge ("PICC") . This monthly recurring charge cannot be discounted and applies when SFI is not the underlying local exchange carrier via our networkSFI Business Line service. The PICC will be applied per month per outbound switched line based on the type of underlying access line as follows:

Centrex : $ 0.49
Business line : $ 1.99
ISDN BRI: $ 3.98
ISDN PRI: $19.95

CAC Fee

Customers of networkSFI Business Line analog local service provided pursuant to this Service Guide are subject to a Carrier Access Charge ("CAC") . This monthly recurring charge cannot be discounted and will be applied per month per local telephone line.

networkSFI Business Line : $1.99

Payment Currency

All rates and charges will be quoted in United States dollars, billed in United States dollars, and are to be paid in United States dollars unless otherwise stated in writing in Customer contract.

Return Check Fee

An administrative charge may be applied to a residence or business Customer bill for each occasion that a check, bank draft, or an electronic funds transfer item is returned for the reason of insufficient funds or no account.

Administrative Charge Per Occasion = $25.00

Duplicate Bill Charge

Customer may request a paper copy of its billing statement, and such a request will be satisfied by SFI subject to Company retention policies and other billing information retention factors. Subject to billing system or other limitations, a Duplicate Bill Charge may apply upon a Customer's request for duplicate copies of their SFI billing statement in accordance with the charges specified below, unless stipulated differently in the Customer's Service Agreement. This service is only available where billing and technology exists to fulfill Customer's request.

The Duplicate Bill Charge, as specified above, will not be applied in the following instances:

• Customer subscribes to a service which provides additional copies of their billing statements;
• Customer requests a copy of the billing statement because of non-receipt of the initial bill after a new connect, transfer or change of address orders;
• Customer has not received a bill due to Company error in the address to which the billing statement was mailed;
• Customer requests a copy of the current monthly billing statement or its final bill.

Duplicate Bill Charge, per bill copy charge (mailed via standard US mail only)
Service Charge
Any invoice dated 12 months or earlier from time of request or not contained on SFI online billing portal.
$30.00

Restoration of Service Fee

Where allowed by law, SFI may implement a $25.00 service fee for restoration of service where payment delinquency has caused an interruption of service. This fee will be applicable to each Customer service per billing address that is being restored and will be included on the Customer's monthly billing statement.

Fractional Charges and Credits

Computing Charges or Credits for a Fractional Part of a Month

When rates are stated on a monthly basis, each month is considered to have 30 days for billing purposes. To determine fractional charges or credits for portions of months, count the days remaining in the billing period (including the 31st day of a 31-day month) starting with the day after the date on which the Service was furnished or discontinued. Divide that figure by 30 days. Multiply the resultant fraction by the monthly charge to arrive at the fractional charge or credit.

Computing Fractional Charges or Credits for a Rate Change

When a monthly rate is changed (increased or decreased) as a result of a Service Guide revision, the additional charge or credit for any fractional part of a month is calculated as follows:

Count the number of days remaining in the billing period (including the 31st day of a 31-day month) starting with the effective date of the rate change. Divide that figure by 30 days (billing month). Multiply the resultant fraction by the amount of the monthly rate change to arrive at the fractional charge or credit.

Rounding to the Nearest Cent

If the computed charges or credit for monthly charges include one-half cent or more, the fraction is rounded up to the next highest cent. Fractions of less than one-half cent are disregarded.

Charges Associated with Term Plan Contracts

Except as otherwise provided in a particular Term Plan or contract, Term Plan Customers who fail to sign another Term Plan contract with SFI on or before the date of Term Plan expiration, and who continue to use the SFI services after the Term Plan expiration date, SFI will provide the Service under the terms and conditions set forth under the SFI Service Guide (as modified from time-to-time), and the rates and charges for the Service(s) shall be the then-in-effect month-to-month rates for those Services as modified from time-to-time. The SFI Service Guide can be found at https://www.skyfiberinternet.com/service-guide and the in-effect rates and charges can be found in this SFI Service Guide, as amended from time-to-time.

Late Payment Charge and Late Payment Collection Fee

This charge and this fee recover the costs associated with the administration and collection of unpaid balances and are not government-mandated. The Late Payment Collection Fee may not apply to all customers.