FCC Creates Intermediate Provider Registry; NTCA, WTA, West Telecom Pleased, ITTA Not
The FCC adopted rural call completion rules to oversee intermediate providers used by larger telecom companies to complete many calls. "We establish a registry for intermediate providers and require intermediate providers to register with the Commission before offering to transmit covered voice communications," said the unanimous two-order item issued Wednesday in docket 13-39 to implement part of the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act. The RCC orders took other measures to enhance the effectiveness of call completion rules, and denied a USTelecom petition to stay an April order's "covered provider" duties to monitor intermediate providers, pending completion of act implementation.
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Limited initial reaction was mostly positive. "NTCA is deeply grateful," said CEO Shirley Bloomfield: the new law and FCC measures "will enable much greater visibility and transparency into how calls are routed, helping we hope to ensure that more calls to rural Americans are completed." WTA thinks the action "is a good step in helping to make sure calls are routed to their final destination," emailed Derrick Owens, senior vice president-government and industry affairs. The order is "practical and well-reasoned," emailed Robert McCausland, vice president-regulatory and government affairs of West Telecom Services, a CLEC and intermediate provider.
ITTA is disappointed the FCC required covered providers -- which select the initial long-distance route for large numbers of lines -- to ensure all their intermediate providers registered, said Mike Jacobs, vice president-regulatory affairs.
Covered providers are required "to use only registered intermediate providers to transmit covered voice communications," and "to maintain the capability to disclose the identities of any intermediate providers relied on in the call path to the Commission," said the first order, which noted a "narrowly tailored exception" for disaster recovery. The FCC said it will establish service-quality standards in a later order (there's a Feb. 26 deadline).
The order adopted a proposed "intermediate provider" definition that narrowed its scope by excluding parties that carry traffic only incidentally, such as some ISPs. It declined to adopt a Verizon and USTelecom proposal "to limit the definitions of 'intermediate provider' and 'covered voice communications' to 'apply only to intermediate providers that handle covered voice communications that are destined for rural areas.'" The order required intermediate providers to furnish five categories of information about their companies, as it proposed in an April Further NPRM. It required them to provide some further leadership/ownership contact information, as proposed by Verizon, to prevent delisted intermediate providers from circumventing the rules by re-registering under other names.
The FCC adopted its proposal to require registration by "any intermediate provider 'that offers or holds itself out as offering the capability to transmit covered voice communications from one destination to another and that charges any rate to any other entity (including an affiliated entity) for the transmission.'" Such providers must register within 30 days of a public notice announcing Office of Management and Budget approval of the rules; failure to do could trigger fines without citations. Covered providers have to comply with their requirements 90 days after the registration deadline.
The order requires "a covered provider to ensure that all intermediate providers involved in the transmission of its covered voice communications are registered with the Commission." ITTA's Jacobs said the act mandated only that covered providers can't use intermediate providers unless registered, but the FCC "extrapolated" they have to ensure that every intermediate provider in their call path is registered. “The requirement should be that only the first intermediate provider has to register -- that’s the one they have a contract with,” he told us. Comcast also sought that interpretation.
The FCC agreed with NTCA that such a reading would "potentially allow unscrupulous carriers or intermediate providers to circumvent their ultimate responsibility to complete calls." The agency said, "In particular, we disagree with Comcast’s claims that covered providers lack ... control over intermediate providers with which they have no direct contractual relationship.'" Comcast didn't comment.
The order is "an important and necessary complement to new ‘monitoring procedures’ that the FCC has reinforced to promote improved and sustained performance in call completion," said NTCA's Bloomfield. "Steps taken by the FCC in this order will help prevent the kinds of call-completion issues encountered in the past," emailed McCausland of West. "We are appreciative that the Commission took seriously our concerns, and established rules to accomplish the objectives efficiently and without unreasonable burdens." A USTelecom spokesperson emailed: “Rural call completion remains an important issue to our member companies and industry. Clearly aligning monitoring obligations, however, is critical to moving forward efficiently and effectively.”