Rural call termination remains a huge problem, several organizations said,...
Rural call termination remains a huge problem, several organizations said, citing October survey data. More than 200 rural carriers from 39 states participated in this three-week survey, a joint venture of the National Exchange Carrier Association, the NTCA, OPASTCO and…
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the Western Telecommunications Alliance, according to an NTCA release Thursday. Respondents reported termination complaints in 38 of the 39 states, with 4,691 complaints reported in March through August, a Thursday NECA ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnzumy). Rural representatives see the problem as a “mounting epidemic,” the ex parte letter said, which described Wednesday meetings with the Wireline as well as Public Safety and Homeland Security bureaus. The survey showed 41 percent of respondents experienced an increase in complaints, 21 percent saw the rate remain steady, 26 percent saw a drop and 12 percent encountered no recent complaints. “It’s clear that regulators need to step in and step up to end such bad practices once and for all,” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said in a statement. WTA Executive Vice President Kelly Worthington urged FCC action, citing harm to consumers and businesses in rural areas. There’s “a collaborative test call project among rural carriers and members of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions” under way, the ex parte notice revealed, noting that, while still not finalized, this “test call project is designed to identify and trouble-shoot call completion problems in real time.”