(a) Exclusion from unitary treatment will be granted for a period of two years if the cost of capital for interstate exchange service is so low as to be confiscatory because it is outside the zone of reasonableness for the individual carrier's required rate of return for interstate exchange access services.

(b) A petition for exclusion from unitary treatment and for individual treatment must plead with particularity the exceptional facts and circumstances that justify individual treatment. The showing shall include a demonstration that the exceptional facts and circumstances are not of transitory effect, such that exclusion for a period of a least two years is justified.

(c) A petition for exclusion from unitary treatment and for individual treatment may be filed at any time. When a petition is filed at a time other than that specified in §65.103(b)(2), the petitioner must provide compelling evidence that its need for individual treatment is not simply the result of short-term fluctuations in the cost of capital or similar events.

[60 FR 28544, June 1, 1995]