FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION August I, 2013 "I.,. Mignon L. Clyburn Acting Chairwoman The Honorable Patrick Leahy United States Senate 433 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Leahy: Thank you for your letter regarding call completion and service quality in rural areas. I take rural call completion concerns very seriously and the Commission is committed to ensuring reliable telephone service for consumers and businesses in rural America. To that end, we have been tackling these issues on multiple fronts as described further in the enclosed letter on this issue from the Chiefofthe FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau. I am also enclosing a recent enforcement advisory designed to remind providers oflong distance services of their obligations when served by the Commission with an informal complaint about rural call completion. If you have any additional questions or need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Enclosures 445 12,h Street S.W. Washington. D.C. 20554 (202) 418·1000 Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 August 1,2013 CN: 1300470 The Honorable Patrick Leahy United States Senate 433 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Leahy: Thank you for your letter regarding the problems of call completion and service quality in rural areas of Vermont. The consequences of these problems can be dire, impacting businesses, families and public safety, and the Commission is committed to ensuring reliable telephone service in rural America. The Commission has been attacking this problem on multiple fronts: investigating systemic problems with originating long distance providers, pointedly reminding long distance providers of their current obligations, proposing new Commission rules to address rural call completion problems, and acting daily on specific consumer and rural carrier complaints. These efforts are coordinated by an inter-bureau Rural Call Completion Task Force. As you are aware, earlier th,is year the Commission's Enforcement Bureau entered into a consent decree with long distance provider Level 3. Under the consent decree, Level 3 has committed to meeting certain benchmarks for completing calls to rural areas and is making a significant voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury. The Enforcement Bureau continues to investigate the call completion practices of voice communications providers. In February 2012, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Declaratory Ruling reminding carriers of the Commission's longstanding prohibition on blocking, reducing or otherwise restricting traffic. The Declaratory Ruling alerted originating carriers of their responsibilities and potential liability if they engage in - or use underlying providers that engage in - practices prohibited by the Communications Act or Commission rules. In February of this year, the Commission proposed new rules to improve its ability to monitor the delivery of long-distance calls to rural areas. The proposed rules include data retention and call completion performance reporting requirements, which would help ensure that customers in rural Vermont receive reliable telephone service, as well as assist the Commission with its enforcement efforts. We are in receipt of comments submitted by the Joint State Commissions and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, both of which include the Vermont Public Service Board, and the National Association of State Utility Page 2-The Honorable Patrick Leahy- Advocates, which includes the Vermont Department of Public Service. The comment period for this rulemaking closed on June 11,2013, and Commission staff are analyzing the record concerning the Commission's proposed rules. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs public/attachmatchlFCC-13-18AI.pdf. We do receive a small number of complaints from consumers and businesses in Vermont regarding calls not reaching them. Such complaints are reviewed immediately by members of the Task Force, and are acted on promptly by the Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and, where necessary, the Enforcement Bureau. When we receive these complaints we often contact the complainant by telephone to verify and supplement the details as may be necessary before serving the originating provider. The originating carrier will often make changes to resolve the immediate problem that a customer has been experiencing, and the record of carrier responses informs our broader investigations. While most originating carriers now provide constructive responses when we serve them, a few have not given the matter the full attention we expect, typically because the complainant is not its customer. Consequently, on July 19 the Enforcement Bureau issued an advisory informing carriers that the Bureau may take enforcement action against providers that submit deficient responses to these complaints. This enforcement advisory can be found at http://transition.fcc.govlDaily ReleaseslDaily Business/2013/db0722/DA-13-1605AI.pdf. We invite your constituents to continue to file complaints with the Commission, which will afford them an opportunity to provide further details, such as caller's phone number and date and time of call attempts, which the Commission uses to pursue this matter further. The FCC has a web-based complaint intake that focuses on rural call completion problems, instructs consumers and businesses on how to file complaints with the Commission, and provides links to the relevant complaint form. This avenue for complaints can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedialproblems-Iong-distance-or-wire1ess-calling-rural-areas. Rural Local Exchange Carriers (LEe) also can contact the Task Force using a dedicated email address that has been provided them through their associations. Indeed, Vermont Tel was the very first Rural LEC to take advantage of this. If you need anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me at 202-418-1500. Sincerely, ~.NuJt/ J I A. Veach Clef, Wireline Competition Bureau