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June 10, 2015

Enforce the Lowest Corresponding Price Rule

You should be enforcing the Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP) rule. With the LCP rule you don’t need to be a master negotiator when you are negotiating the price of your internet connection with a service provider. The LCP rule states that the service provider has to charge you the Lowest Corresponding Price. And the Lowest Corresponding Price is defined as the lowest price that a service provider charges to nonresidential customers who are similarly situated to a particular applicant (school, library, or consortium) for similar services.

Similarly situated means you and the other non-residential customer are both in the service provider service area.

What does this mean in practice ?

If a provider charges Joe’s Dry Cleaning $500/month for 100Mb/s, and charges Mo’s Burgers $750/month for 100Mb/s then the provider has to offer to you 100Mb/s at a price of $500 – assuming the lowest price that provider charges for 100Mb/s is $500/month. In other words, you have to be offered the lowest price the provider is charging other non-residential customers. They cannot jack up the price on you. And the provider must offer this LCP price, even if you don’t ask for it.

This means you should be benefiting from the lowest price the service provider is charging other customers. You don’t need to negotiate to get this lowest price. The provider, as a condition of being in the E-rate program, has to agree to this rule.

If I were you, I would get an explicit statement from the provider that the price they are charging you is the lowest corresponding price, and if not, ask for a detailed explanation of why the provider is not giving you the lowest corresponding price.

The FCC is stepping up enforcement of the LCP rule. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that providers throughout the USA play lip service to this rule, and are not compliant.

Your knowledge of the LCP rule, and asking the provider to confirm they are giving you the Lowest Corresponding Price I am sure will help enforce this rule.

Good luck !

Article by Essam El-Beik Leave a Comment Filed Under: Lowest Corresponding Price

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