STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O’RIELLY
Re: Rural Call Completion, Petition for Waiver of Carolina West Wireless, Inc., WC Docket No 13-
39.
I support the relief provided to Carolina West in this order.  However, I would have preferred to 
provide that relief when the Commission adopted the Rural Call Completion Reconsideration Order last 
November.
1
  As I stated at the time: “I tend to find the argument presented by Carolina West persuasive 
and carriers now captured by our rules should not be forced to pray that a waiver is granted, as is 
suggested. I suspect that we could exclude such carriers without undermining our rural call completion 
efforts.”
2
  I guess I should be pleased that the Commission is finally coming around to my viewpoint.  
When the current item circulated, I asked what additional information staff had learned in the 
intervening seven months that would make the Commission more comfortable granting the relief now.  
The answer was little more than a clarification regarding the company’s ownership.  In other words, it 
was something that could have been handled through a quick conversation, avoiding unnecessary burdens 
on both the company and the Commission. Instead, the company had to file a waiver and the Bureau had 
to: (1) issue a Public Notice seeking comment on it; (2) grant Carolina West a three-month temporary 
waiver of the requirements pending final resolution of the petition; and (3) and draft and brief the current 
waiver order for the Commission’s consideration.  
To be fair, Carolina West’s earlier petition for reconsideration, if granted, could have had a 
broader impact than granting the current company-specific waiver petition.  But nothing prevented the 
Commission from addressing this with respect to Carolina West, when it issued the Order on 
Reconsideration.  I hope that the Commission will do better in the future to consider the costs of its 
actions and avoid creating unnecessary procedures and delays.
                                                     
1
Rural Call Completion, WC Docket No. 13-39, Order on Reconsideration, 29 FCC Rcd 14026 (2014).
2
Id. at 14062 (Concurring Statement of Commissioner Michael O’Rielly).