Media Contact: 
Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509
will.wiquist@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release
FCC REACHES $40 MILLION SETTLEMENT WITH T-MOBILE FOR 
RURAL CALL COMPLETION VIOLATIONS
Calls Failed to Reach Consumers & False Ring Tones Inserted on Millions of Calls
  -- 
WASHINGTON, April 16, 2018—The Federal Communications Commission today reached a 
settlement concluding its investigation into whether T-Mobile USA, Inc. violated the 
Communications Act when it failed to correct ongoing problems with delivery of calls to rural 
consumers and whether it violated the FCC rule that prohibits providers from inserting false 
ring tones with respect to hundreds of millions of calls.  T-Mobile agreed to pay $40 million to 
the U.S. Treasury and entered into a compliance plan to prevent future violations.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated: “It is a basic tenet of the nation’s phone system that calls be 
completed to the called party, without a reduction in the call quality—even when the calls pass 
through intermediate providers.  The FCC is committed to ensuring that phone calls to all 
Americans, including rural Americans, go through.”  
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau opened an investigation following rural carrier and consumer 
complaints that T-Mobile callers were unable to reach consumers served by three rural carriers 
in Wisconsin.  Although T-Mobile reported to the FCC that the problems had been “resolved,” 
the Commission continued to receive complaints that calls were failing.  In addition, call 
completion complaints filed directly with T-Mobile showed patterns of problems with call 
delivery to consumers in at least seven other rural areas.  
The investigation also revealed T-Mobile’s practice of injecting false ring tones into certain 
calls.  T-Mobile reported that it had done so on hundreds of millions of calls and admitted that 
its actions violated the Commission’s prohibition of injecting false ring tones on any calls. 
The T-Mobile settlement (formally known as a Consent Decree) and the Order adopting the 
Consent Decree are available at: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-
373A1.pdf.  This is the FCC’s sixth rural call completion settlement. 
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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission 
order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).