STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Rural Call Completion, WC Docket No. 13-39.
This is about trust.  When you pick up the phone to place a call, you should have every 
confidence that your call will go through.  But in too many places in rural America that is not happening.  
Calls to friends and family will ring and ring and ring without ever being answered.  Business 
connections will never get made.  And worse, calls in times of crisis to public safety may not go through. 
For too long, consumers in rural communities—and the carriers that serve them—have 
complained about this problem.  Over the last few years, the FCC has answered their call, putting in place 
reporting obligations designed to fix this problem.  It also has taken enforcement action against those 
carriers that fail to deliver calls.  And yet, the problem persists.  So today we fine-tune our prior efforts to 
help end this problem.  We also implement the Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, which was signed 
into law earlier this year.  
I approve this order and rulemaking.  But I am mindful that our work today may still need further 
adjustment.  Because in the end, the only acceptable outcome is putting an end to this problem—and 
restoring trust.  That may be a tall order for this agency—but it’s a task we need to take on with vigor.