Federal Communications Commission	DA 18-653


Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554


In the Matter of

Telephone Number Portability

Numbering Resource Optimization
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CC Docket No. 95-116

CC Docket No. 99-200

ORDER

Adopted:  June 20, 2018	Released:  June 22, 2018

By the Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau:


I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this Order, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) grants the request for an extension of the waiver of the Commission’s numbering rules, issued by the Bureau on September 21, 2017. See generally Telephone Number Portability et al., Order, 32 FCC Rcd 7005 (WCB 2017) (September 2017 Waiver Order).
  Due to the extensive damage in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) caused by Hurricane Maria, See, e.g., Nat’l Oceanographic & Atmospheric Admin., National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report – Hurricane Maria 6-8 (2018), https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL152017_Maria.pdf; Virgin Islands; Major Disaster and Related Determinations, 82 Fed. Reg. 46,813-14 (Oct. 06, 2017), https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-21632. 
 the Bureau concludes that it is in the public interest to extend the waiver to allow Sprint additional time to restore services to its wireless customers in the USVI.  Therefore, we find that good cause exists to grant a six-month waiver extension. 
2. On September 21, 2017, the Bureau, on its own motion, issued a waiver relating to carriers porting numbers to locations outside hurricane-affected rate centers in the USVI until June 20, 2018. September 2017 Waiver Order, 32 FCC Rcd at 7006, para. 2.
  Our action was necessitated by the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria on the telecommunications infrastructure in the USVI. Id. at para. 1.
  In that Order, the Bureau stated that carriers could request additional relief if they are unable to resume normal service by that date. Id. at para. 2 (“If service providers are unable to resume service on a normal basis after this period, they may request additional relief from the Wireline Competition Bureau.”)
  On June 19, 2018, Sprint filed a request to extend the waiver because it states that it still is unable to resume normal service in the USVI. Request of Sprint for Extension of Waiver, CC Docket No. 95-116 et al. (filed June 19, 2018), https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/1061994393791 (Sprint Waiver Extension Request).
  
3. In support of its request, Sprint reports that it has been difficult to obtain the necessary resources and labor to resolve the outstanding service impairments in the USVI caused by hurricane damage.  Sprint maintains that such resource constraints, coupled with the fact that it must depend on other parties to establish new trunk groups to support Sprint’s service, necessitates extension of the waiver.   It further maintains that without an extension of the waiver, “Sprint customers will undoubtedly experience call failures, call drops, and inadequate service including lack of access to emergency 9-1-1 services.” Sprint Waiver Extension Request at 4.
  Sprint therefore requests a six-month extension of the Bureau’s September 2017 waiver. 
4. Section 1.3 of the Commission’s rules provides that “[a]ny provision of the rules may be waived by the Commission on its own motion or on petition if good cause therefore is shown.” 47 CFR § 1.3.
  We find that there is good cause to extend the waiver to Sprint for six months.  By its own admission, despite its efforts thus far in restoring service, “Sprint remains unable to establish new trunk groups to the LEC tandem necessary to support services to an estimated 7,000 customers . . .  but is optimistic that this issue will be resolved within six months.” Sprint Waiver Extension Request at 2 & n.7
  Sprint says that this extension will allow it to continue re-routing USVI number-bound traffic to a stateside switch, “allowing calls to complete on an alternate path that is not reliant on the USVI trunk group,” pending completion of service restoration. Id. at 2.
  Notwithstanding this waiver, we exhort Sprint to expeditiously resolve this issue, and notify the Commission upon completion.   
5.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to sections 4(i), 251(b)(2), and 251(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i), 251(b)(2) and 251(e), and sections 0.291 and 1.3 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 0.291, 1.3, that Sprint’s Request for Extension of Waiver IS GRANTED, and the relief described in the September 2017 Waiver Order is extended until December 21, 2018.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




Kris Anne Monteith
Chief
Wireline Competition Bureau


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