Traffic pumping minutes rose 48% in 2010

A new study from Connectiv Solutions offers both good and bad news about traffic pumping.

Also known as access charge stimulation, traffic pumping refers to a scenario in which the operator of a free conference call or chat line terminates inbound calls to a competitive local exchange carrier in a rural area that charges unusually high per-minute access charges and then shares those revenues with the conference call or chat line operator. Connectiv Solutions offers a service to wireless and wireline carriers that analyzes calling records for their customer base and determines the volume of calls to the highest-volume traffic pumpers so that the carriers can renegotiate terminating access charges with the CLECs. The good news is that the dollar value of access charges paid to traffic pumpers for 2010 came in lower than Connectiv estimated they would be because some carriers were able to renegotiate those rates. The bad news is that the minutes involved increased 48%, indicating the increased popularity of free conference call and chat line services.