State Regulators Eye FCC for Solution to Call Completion Problems

"The FCC has the authority to levy fines -- to me it’s really the FCC that needs to step up to the plate,” said Iowa Utilities Board Commissioner Swati Dandekar, sponsor of NARUC’s resolution. News of the circulating FCC item left her cold. “In some ways, I'm disappointed the FCC decided to go to rulemaking,” she said, describing the length of time associated with the process.

Investigations are actively ongoing, and the proposed data collection is intended to assist the investigators but is not a substitute for them, said an FCC official. The data will be a tool, the official said, noting the FCC isn’t waiting to act. The data mandate will be useful in future investigations and help carriers ensure quality control, the official added.

The National Exchange Carrier Association has been active in giving the FCC information about the offenses, said Iowa Board Staff Specialist Mike Balch, citing hopes last year that it would be enough for the FCC to move forward. Telecom Manager Suzanne Smith reiterated that disappointment with the coming FCC notice, but acknowledged “it’s important we have the data going forward,” both on the state and national levels. The board has received five written or verbal intrastate complaints in 2013, Customer Service Manager Don Tormey said. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) was aware of the NARUC resolution and has been “very good at communicating with us,” Dandekar said. The governor told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in December that he and the board would love to hold a workshop in Iowa to discuss the problems. The FCC is considering the invitation but hasn’t responded, an FCC spokesman said. “It’s all about making sure we are protecting consumers,” Dandekar said. “If it’s affecting Iowa, I'm sure it’s affecting rural America all over."

The Oregon Public Utility Commission will impose penalties of up to $50,000 in cases of intrastate call completion problems, it announced last month, making it the rare state to move to enforcement. The PUC first heard accounts of the problem three to four years ago and has received “compelling, thoughtful data” from providers since, Chairman Susan Ackerman said. The PUC has heard more than 1,600 complaints since June 2011, it said. “It was interrupting businesses out there in some of these small communities,” Ackerman said of “extremely rural” parts of the state. She’s also experienced dropped calls in urban areas.

Ackerman hopes the FCC collects data, as the rulemaking notice would propose, but also hopes it finds a way to use that data soon in appropriate enforcement, she said. “They do take their time,” she said of the FCC. “I feel states do not have much ability to influence them.” She wants the FCC to act, but “in the meantime” it’s crucial to let consumers know “they are not alone,” hence the PUC’s decision about instituting penalties, she said. The reality of the problem’s interstate nature is “clearly an issue,” she added.

"There’s just a whole host of problems caused by this not being solved,” said Vice Chairman Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. “Literally nothing has happened."

Nelson first heard from troubled South Dakota residents in March 2011, primarily businesses, he said. He described a trucking business that relied on inbound calls and that encountered “increasing difficulty” receiving them, which caused the commissioners to wonder if there was a problem with South Dakota telcos. But the PUC determined the calls aren’t even getting to South Dakota, that it was a broader failing that a federal agency needed to address, he said. Nelson initially had what he called a “naïve” belief that the FCC would act and enforce penalties against violators but has lost that illusion, he said. South Dakota officials have relied on “anecdotal reports” over the last two years in understanding the problem, Nelson said, citing a letter from embassy officials this month who couldn’t get calls through. He’s watching other state efforts, such as Oregon’s move to impose penalties. He gives the Oregon PUC “great credit” for aggressively acting, but hesitates to say how effective it'll be. Despite seeing himself as states’ rights advocate, he sees a national solution here. “There are times when it’s impossible for states to solve a problem,” he said, calling this a “great example."

The FCC’s circulating notice struck Nelson as “offensive” when hearing about a comparison of data between urban and rural areas, he said. “Who cares? If they're not being delivered, the problems need to be solved,” he said. “It needs to be solved in both places.” The solution likely comes down to least-cost routers and imposing penalties, he said.

"We're trying to figure out how extensive the problem is in Ohio,” said Commissioner Lynn Slaby of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission. “We don’t think there is 100 percent reporting for calls that are dropped. ... It’s a very complex animal.” Slaby wrote an op-ed published late last year in parts of Ohio asking consumers to notify the PUC as well as the FCC of call completion problems, and hopes to invite comment again soon, he said. Upon hearing the FCC’s circulating notice, he said FCC “seems to be responsive to a certain amount of examining the problem.” He acknowledged the difficulties of nailing down culprits, despite what “seems to be a lot of finger-pointing right at the minute,” he said. The three commissioners of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission on Thursday wrote the FCC (http://xrl.us/bocbr5) to urge it to release a “summary of the investigation and the information gathered so far,” to contribute to “a better understanding” of a problem that’s crippled Wisconsin RLECs, businesses and residents as much as any state.

Pennsylvania Utility Commissioner Jim Cawley thought a rulemaking notice would have been released earlier by the FCC if that federal agency ever sat down with state commissioners and directly dealt with the problems, he said.