Incarcerated People's Communications Services Order Granting Waiver Request Filed by Securus Technologies

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau granted  Securus Technologies' request to waive the FCC's enable Securus to continue offering video IPCS while it completes implementation of its new video IPCS platform that is able to bill on a per-minute basis. As a condition of the grant of this waiver, the Bureau requires that Securus implement and abide by Pricing and Refund Commitments.  First, the Bureau requires that as of April 6, 2026, all video IPCS rates offered by Securus and JPay comply with the FCC’s video IPCS rate caps.  This includes the following: (a) Where per-minute billing has been implemented as of April 6, 2026, Securus shall comply with the relevant video IPCS rate caps that become effective as of that date. (b) As correctional facilities convert to per-minute billing during the 91-day waiver period, the video IPCS rates at those facilities shall comply with the applicable video IPCS rate caps. (c) For correctional facilities that are not converted to per-minute billing as of April 6, 2026, Securus shall reduce per-session video IPCS rates to the equivalent per-minute rate according to facility tier. The Bureau expects Securus to abide by its representation that “it will have converted a substantial majority of its facilities to per-minute billing” by April 6, 2026, for any and all correctional facilities that are not converted at the end of the waiver period on July 6, 2026, the Bureau requires Securus to “implement a program to refund consumers a pro-rata amount for any unused session time.” Specifically, during the 91-day waiver period, Securus shall “complete development of the business process to periodically review per-session video IPCS usage, identify the amount of unused minutes, and initiate a refund to the consumer for the charges related to the unused minutes.” The Bureau further requires Securus to issue refunds to consumers within 48 hours of call completion. Doing so ensures that consumers are not unreasonably delayed in receiving refunds for sums that are rightfully theirs. The Bureau finds that these conditions help ensure that grant of the waiver is in the public interest. Finally, the Bureau requires Securus to provide the Bureau with monthly written updates on its progress in deploying its new video IPCS platform beginning May 1, 2026 until such time as all correctional facilities served by Securus have been converted to the new per-minute video IPCS platform.