Rural Call Completion Rules Working, Says Wireline Bureau

FCC rural call completion rules from 2018 have been effective, the Wireline Bureau reported Monday in docket 13-39. The bureau sought comment on that conclusion about the agency’s second rural call completion order, plus the effectiveness of intermediate provider service quality standards in the fourth order from 2019. Provider monitoring and point of contact requirements, plus removing data reporting requirements, “have been effective in contributing to a reduction in rural call completion issues,” said the bureau, citing provider experiences and complaint data. AT&T, Verizon and NCTA say “complaints are minimal and actual rural call completion issues are very rare,” the bureau said. The FCC received about 130 consumer complaints about rural call completion in 2018. The agency got 55 consumer complaints in 2019, 30 in the first half of 2020. That’s consistent with carrier complaint data showing 147 such complaints in 2018, including 129 before the rules took effect, the bureau said. The commission received 35 carrier complaints in 2019 and nine in the first half of 2020, it said: “Complaint data may not be completely representative of the state of rural call completion issues nationwide, and that the time that has elapsed since the rules took effect is limited.”