FCC Rural Call Completion Order & Other Issues

1. FCC Rural Call Completion Order & Other Issues Stan Redden – Vice President Software Development

2. FCC Rural Call Completion • Rural carriers have long been experiencing the following issues with long distance calls terminated to their customers: • Poor call quality • Lengthy ‘dead air’ period on the callers phone after dialing – they hear nothing • False busy signals • Inaccurate intercept messages such as “The number you have dialed is not in service” or “Your call cannot be completed as dialed” www.cdg.ws

3. FCC Rural Call Completion • No audible voice on one end of the call, or both, even after connecting • Audible ringing on the caller’s phone but no actual ringing on the called party’s end • Caller hears 15 to 20 rings on their end, but called party only hears 2 or 3 before answering www.cdg.ws

4. FCC Rural Call Completion • One of every five long distance calls placed to rural locations are experiencing these issues which result in the following: • Causes rural businesses to lose customers • Cuts families off from their relatives in rural areas • Creates potential for dangerous delays in public safety communications in rural areas • Culprit seems to be related to the use of intermediate providers to carry these calls, most notably ‘Least Cost Routers’ www.cdg.ws

5. FCC Rural Call Completion • After on-going complaints by the rural community and several different telecom agencies demanding action on this issue, the FCC finally release a NRPM (Docket 13-39) to address this issue www.cdg.ws

6. FCC Rural Call Completion • Order outlines the following requirements: • All service providers (wireline, wireless, and VoIP) who have over 100K domestic customers and who use a ‘intermediate carrier’ to provide long distance service must comply with the data request • Must retain all long distance call detail records placed for a period of 6 months • Must file a ‘call completion ratio’ report with the FCC on a quarterly basis • Those failing to comply with the order may be subject to fines and possibly other enforcement actions by the FCC www.cdg.ws

7. FCC Rural Call Completion • FCC Reporting Template: www.cdg.ws

8. FCC Rural Call Completion • Report breaks out outbound long distance calls into the following categories: • By State • By Rural OCN • By Interstate, Intrastate, and Total • Total Calls Attempted • Total Calls Answered • Total Calls Busy • Total Calls Ring No Answer • Total Calls Unassigned Number • Percentage of calls Answered and Completed www.cdg.ws

9. FCC Rural call completion • Order is currently in the comment cycle • Industry waiting on the FCC to make final ruling on order details and set implementation date www.cdg.ws

10. FCC Rural Call Completion • Depending upon final FCC Order, modifications to your switch may be made • AMA Module 130 contains the fields Facility Release Cause and Call Characteristic • Facility Release Cause field contains the information to identify specific types of termination cause (one of the items on the current FCC Reporting Template) • Call Characteristic field contains characteristics of the call (least cost routing, Intelligent Network Reject, etc.) • AMA Module 051 contains similar information but is related to Operator Services www.cdg.ws

11. FCC Rural call completion • CDG, Teletech, and DataTech have joined forces to develop a new process to address this issue • The result is a new option to the CDG Mediation system that has the ability to process and store the necessary CDRs and to produce the quarterly report as required by the FCC • Process will utilize TeleTech’s Localizer database to discern long distance calls from local www.cdg.ws

12. FCC Rural call completion • Process will also support a QRT function to support deeper dives into the data • DataTech’s analytical and regulatory expertise will be available to further analyze the data and assist customers in addressing any reporting issues • Please contact Jon Jones of DataTech, Kim Russo of TeleTech, or your CDG representative for further information on this solution! www.cdg.ws

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14. FCC USF/ICC Reform Update • Transition to Bill & Keep regime continues on path for terminating switched access charges and reciprocal compensation • Rate of Return Companies: • Step 1: July 1, 2012 – reduce rates to 50% of interstate • Step 2: July 1, 2013 – reduce rates to interstate parity • Step 3: July 1, 2014 – reduce rates by 1/3 of the difference between interstate and $0.005 • Step 4: July 1, 2015 – reduce rates by 1/3 of the difference between interstate and $0.005 www.cdg.ws

15. FCC USF/ICC Reform Update • Step 5: July 1, 2016 – reduce rates to $0.005 • Step 6: July 1, 2017 – reduce rates by 1/3 difference between $0.005 and $0.0007 • Step 7: July 1, 2018 – reduce rates by 2/3 difference between $0.005 and $0.0007 • Step 8: July 1, 2019 – reduce rates to $0.0007 • Step 9: July 1, 2020 – Bill and Keep www.cdg.ws

16. FCC USF/ICC Reform Update • Price Cap Companies: • Step 1: July 1, 2012 – reduce rates to 50% of interstate • Step 2: July 1, 2013 – reduce rates to interstate parity • Step 3: July 1, 2014 – reduce rates by 1/3 of the difference between interstate and $0.0007 • Step 4: July 1, 2015 – reduce rates by 1/3 of the difference between interstate and $0.0007 • Step 5: July 1, 2016 – reduce rates to $0.0007 • Step 6: July 1, 2017 – Bill and Keep www.cdg.ws

17. FCC USF/ICC Reform Update • Effective July 1, 2014, originating VoIP usage will be subject to the same rating rules as interstate VoIP • FCC still has not addressed any reforms concerning originating traffic • Industry still awaiting the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on the USF/ICC Transformation Order case where oral arguments were held in November, 2013 • Most experts do not expect a decision to be rendered until mid to late 2014 www.cdg.ws

18. FCC USF/ICC Reform Update • Numerous critical issues that are awaiting FCC decision: • Reform of Special Access • Net Neutrality • IP Transition • Others??? • Douglas Meredith of JSI will be addressing these issues and others during our general session today at 1:30pm in the Alma Mater room www.cdg.ws

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