Please contact Michael Bennet at mbennet@bennetlaw.com or Tony Veach at tveach@bennetlaw.com for more information.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC or Commission) Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has released a Public Notice announcing that the FCC’s rural call completion rules have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).[1] As a result, long-distance voice service providers that qualify as “covered providers” must begin recording and retaining call data required under the FCC’s rural call completion requirements on April 1, 2015. Covered providers must submit their first quarterly call completion data report by August 1, 2015.
Bottom Line: Finally, 509 days after the FCC adopted call completion rules, long-distance service providers will begin recording and retaining data on call attempts to rural ILECs. However, rural call completion remains a serious problem to consumers and businesses alike. Because the rules will not cease overnight, rural advocates must continue to pressure the FCC and Congress, hold transit providers accountable for bad practices, and keep informing rural Americans of the problem.
RURAL CALL COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS
Providers of long-distance voice service that make the initial long-distance call path choice for more than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines, counting the total of all business and residential fixed subscriber lines and mobile phones and aggregated over all of the providers’ affiliates are subject to the FCC’s rural call completion rules.[2] Specifically, these “covered providers” – local exchange carriers (LECs), interexchange carriers (IXCs), commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers, and VoIP service providers – must record and retain nine specific details for call attempts to an incumbent LEC that is a rural telephone company, as identified by its operating company number (OCN).[3] Covered providers must then, on a quarterly basis, report rural call completion data, and other call completion data, to the FCC.[4] On March 4, 2015, the Commission published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that OMB has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the call completion recording, retention, and reporting rules.[5]
COVERED PROVIDERS TO BEGIN RECORDING DATA ON APRIL 1
Starting April 1, 2015, covered providers must record and retain the call attempt data required under the FCC’s rural call completion rules. Those rules also require covered providers to submit a certified report to the Commission in electronic form on the following quarterly schedule: February 1 (reflecting monthly data from October through December), May 1 (reflecting monthly data from January through March), August 1 (reflecting monthly data from April through June), and November 1 (reflecting monthly data from July through September).[6] Accordingly, covered providers must submit their first call data report – for the quarter consisting of April, May, and June 2015 – using FCC Form 480 by August 1, 2015. An officer or director of each covered provider must certify to the accuracy of each report.
In the Rural Call Completion Order, the Commission acknowledged that there may be originating long-distance voice service providers that have more than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines, but do not qualify as covered.[7] These providers are not subject to the rural call completion rules because they do not make the initial long-distance call path decision for more than 100,000 subscriber lines. However, such providers must file a one-time letter with the Commission in WC Docket No. 13-39 that (1) explains that they do not make the initial long-distance call path choice for more than 100,000 long-distance voice service subscriber lines, and (2) identifies the long-distance provider or providers to which they hand off their end-user customers’ calls. These notification letters must be submitted by April 1, 2015. A copy must be submitted to each provider identified in the letter as having rural call completion reporting responsibility.
FCC FORM 480 – RURAL CALL COMPLETION REPORTING
Covered providers must report call completion data on the delivery of calls to rural LEC OCNs on an individual basis and the delivery of calls to nonrural LECs in the aggregate.[8] The National Exchange Carrier Association’s OCN list contains approximately 1,350 rural incumbent LEC OCNs and about 90 such nonrural incumbent LEC OCNs. Covered providers must use FCC Form 480 to report the call completion data.
Concurrent with the announcement that the call completion rules received OMB approval, the Commission released a guide on how to complete and electronically file FCC Form 480. The guide generally explains what data is required for each of reporting categories. However, covered providers should consult the FCC’s rules and all of the FCC’s orders related to rural call completion, particularly the recent Declaratory Ruling clarifying the definitions of “answered” and “unanswered” call attempts.[9] The “FCC Form 480 Rural Call Completion Reporting Filing Interface User Guide” is available online. If you would like more information on any aspect of the FCC’s rural call completion rules or require assistance in preparing and/or filing the report, please contact us.
[1] Wireline Competition Bureau Announces That Certain Long Distance Providers Must Begin Recording The Data Required For Rural Call Completion Reporting, WC Docket No. 13-39, Public Notice, DA 15-291 (Mar. 4, 2015).
[2] See Rural Call Completion, WC Docket 13-39, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 13-135 (rel. Nov. 8, 2013) (Rural Call Completion Order); 47 C.F.R. § 64.2101 – 64.2109.
[3] In the Rural Call Completion Recon Order, the FCC excluded intraLATA interexchange/toll calls that do not traverse any underlying carriers’ networks from the call completion recordkeeping and reporting requirements. See Rural Call Completion, WC Docket 13-39, Order on Reconsideration, FCC 14-175, ¶9 (Nov. 13, 2014). In the Call Completion Waiver and Clarification Order, the Bureau clarified that covered providers do not have to record, retain, and report call information where the terminating LEC switch only supports multi-frequency signaling (MF signaling) technology. Rural Call Completion: Petition for Limited Waiver of AT&T Services, Inc., Petition for Waiver of CenturyLink, WC Docket 13-39, Order, DA 15-147 (Feb. 2, 2015).
[4] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.2105(b).
[5] 80 Fed. Reg. 11594 (Mar. 4, 2015).
[6] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.2105.
[7] Rural Call Completion Order at ¶67.
[8] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.642105(b)(2).
[9] Rural Call Completion, WC Docket 13-39, Declaratory Ruling, DA 15-217 (Feb. 13, 2015).
