Federal Communications Commission FCC 13-18 STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL Re: Rural Call Completion, WC Docket No. 13-39 Increasingly, rural customers and the carriers that serve them have raised concerns that phone calls placed to rural areas of America have not been completed. This scenario can have serious implications on many aspects of communications in rural parts of the nation. It can impede public safety, frustrate businesses from effectively engaging in commerce, and interfere with rural consumers’ ability to communicate freely with their family and friends. As such, I support this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which is intended to provide the Commission with data to analyze and eventually address this problem. I look forward to working with rural consumers, providers, and my colleagues so we can craft solutions that will most effectively address this problem in the least burdensome way.