PUBLIC NOTICE![](media/image1.png){width="0.95in"
height="0.9055555555555556in"}

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

445 12th STREET, S.W.

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 **DA 99-2441**

News media information 202/418-0500 Fax-On-Demand 202/418-2830 Internet:
http://www.fcc.gov ftp.fcc.gov

### SBC/AMERITECH SERVICE QUALITY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

**CC Docket No. 98-141**

### ASD File No. 99-49

## Released: November 4, 1999 

On October 6, 1999, the Commission approved, subject to conditions, the
transfer of control of certain licenses from Ameritech Corporation to
SBC Communications (collectively referred to as "SBC/Ameritech").[^1]
Pursuant to the conditions, SBC/Ameritech must report, consistent with
the NARUC Service Quality White Paper, data concerning the service
quality provided to residential and business customers.[^2]
SBC/Ameritech must submit its service quality reports on a quarterly
basis beginning no later than 90 days after the merger closing date, or
January 6, 1999.[^3] To facilitate the public's assessment of
SBC/Ameritech's reports and its quality of service, we have attached to
this public notice the NARUC Service Quality White Paper in its
entirety.

For further information contact Anthony Dale, Accounting Safeguards
Division, Common Carrier Bureau at (202) 418-2260, or Whiting Thayer,
Accounting Safeguards Division, Common Carrier Bureau at (202) 418-0822.

\--Action by Chief, Accounting Safeguards Division\--

**ATTACHMENT: NARUC SERVICE QUALITY WHITE PAPER**

Adopted in Convention November 11, 1998

**NARUC Technology Policy Subgroup \"Service Quality White Paper\"**

**I. PREAMBLE**

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (\"1996 Act\") called for sweeping
changes in the way telephone services are delivered, with the principal
focus both on ensuring Universal Service and opening markets to
competition. Furthermore, the 1996 Act promoted higher quality service
to American telecommunications consumers.[^4] In this environment,
regulators at both the state and federal levels will be taking a number
of innovative actions to implement the Act\'s provisions.

This paper suggests that, by measuring and reporting telecommunications
service quality, all stakeholders can assure themselves service quality
is meeting customers\' needs and identify areas where there may be
weaknesses in need of corrective action. A highly-publicized service
quality reporting program will provide consumers with the information
necessary for making informed and rational choices. In addition,
publicizing service quality performance will both draw attention to
potential problem areas before impacting consumers and provide a strong
incentive for carriers to improve quality year after year.[^5]

The Technology Policy Subgroup suggests in this White Paper that
telecommunications carriers provide Service Quality measurements to the
FCC, and that a report of these performance measures be made available
to the public. This will allow interested parties to assess current
service quality levels among the states, and identify increasing or
decreasing trends over time.

The measures being suggested for inclusion meet the following criteria:

o They are considered by the states to be meaningful and significant
indicators of service quality, and experience suggests that failures in
these areas result in customer dissatisfaction and complaints.

o They are relatively consistent, in both use and definition, among the
states.

o Most, if not all, telephone companies already capture this data for
internal management purposes, and report it to state and/or federal
regulators. (This is not intended to require that a company not already
reporting for state or federal purposes would be required to do so for
this report.)

**II. [SERVICE QUALITY REPORTING IN GENERAL]{.underline}**

In March 1998, NARUC urged the collection of service quality data from
incumbent local exchange carriers (\"ILECs\") and competitive local
exchange carriers (\"CLECs\").[^6] Because of the importance of
monitoring the service quality trends in a timely manner, the Technology
Policy Sub-Committee recommends that ILECs and CLECs collect service
quality data on a monthly basis and, to minimize their reporting burden,
report the monthly service quality data to Federal and state regulatory
commissions on a quarterly basis.[^7] In addition, the underlying data
used to develop such service quality reports should be retained for a
period of two years and made available upon request to federal and state
regulators.

**III. [PERFORMANCE DATA]{.underline}**

The Technology Policy Sub-Committee\'s Service Quality Working Group has
identified five major categories of performance data useful for
measuring the quality of telecommunications service. A brief description
accompanies each recommended category. Key definitions are provided in
Section IV of this White Paper.

**[1. Installation]{.smallcaps}**

Reporting data about the installation of basic service allows
commissions to evaluate the adequacy of the carrier\'s telephone plant
facilities and workforce, and the carrier\'s success at meeting customer
expectations.

**a) Installation orders for basic service**

Report the number of all installation orders for basic service occurring
within the reporting period. Installation orders include new orders,
transfer orders, and change orders. Disaggregate into business and
residential classifications and, where feasible, rural and urban.

**b) Installation orders for basic service completed within \'X\'
working days**

Report the number of installation orders for basic service completed
within 5 working days. The working group recognizes that other time
periods, such as 3 days, may be appropriate in some states. Disaggregate
into business and residential classifications and, where feasible, rural
and urban.

**c) Held Orders (30 days)**

Report the number of requests or orders for basic service delayed over
30 calendar days. In some states, monitoring requests or orders for
basic service delayed over 60 or 90 calendar days may be appropriate.

**d) Missed Installation Commitments**

Report (1) the number of missed installation commitments, and (2) the
total installation commitments during the reporting period. Disaggregate
into business and residential classifications and, where feasible, rural
and urban.

**[2. Maintenance & Repair]{.smallcaps}**

Reporting data about the maintenance and repair of basic service allows
commissions to evaluate the adequacy of the carrier\'s telephone plant
facilities and workforce, and the carrier\'s success at providing
continual service for its customers.

**a) Trouble Reports**

Report the number of initial and repeat trouble reports occurring within
the reporting period. Disaggregate into business and residential
classifications and, where feasible, rural and urban.

Most telecommunications carriers have company procedures in which
certain calls to the repair center are not counted as true \"troubles.\"
State commissions and U.S. Territories have encountered significant
discrepancies in the exceptions found in audits of telecommunications
carriers. One carrier may have a list of twenty or more reasons for
excluding a trouble ticket from the report, while another utility may
have only two or three acceptable exceptions. In order to facilitate
benchmarking carrier performance and analysis of service quality data,
the Technology Policy Subgroup suggests that telecommunications carriers
simply pass along all trouble report data. By excluding the use of such
exceptions, the Technology Policy Subgroup anticipates that the accuracy
of the reported service quality data will increase, while the reporting
burden on the carrier will decrease.

1\. [Initial Trouble Reports]{.underline}

1.01 Number of Out-of-Service Initial Trouble Reports

1.02 Total Initial Trouble Reports

1.03 Total Subsequent Initial Trouble Reports

2\. [Repeat Trouble Reports]{.underline}

2.01 Number of Out-of-Service Repeat Trouble Reports

2.02 Total Repeat Trouble Reports

2.03 Total Subsequent Repeat Trouble Reports

3\. [Access Lines]{.underline}

3.01 Total Number of Access Lines Served by the Reporting Carrier

**b) Repair intervals**

The carrier\'s repair interval provides a measure of the carrier\'s
operating procedures and workforce levels. Expected performance levels
may vary according to the state and the size of the reporting carrier.
Disaggregate into business and residential classifications and, where
feasible, rural and urban.

1\. [Number of Out-of-Service Troubles for more than 24
hours]{.underline}

Report the number of out-of-service troubles that remain out-of-service
for 24 hours.

2\. [Average Repair Interval]{.underline}

Report the average duration, in hours, to repair all basic service
troubles.

**c) Missed Repair Commitments**

The number of missed repair commitments measures the adequacy of the
carrier\'s workforce and the efficiency of its maintenance and repair
operations. Report (1) the number of missed repair commitments, and (2)
the total number of repair commitments during the reporting period.
Disaggregate into business and residential classifications and, where
feasible, rural and urban.

**[3. Network Performance]{.smallcaps}**

The number and duration of switch outages and interoffice transmission
facility outages indicate the carrier\'s success at providing continual
access to the full capabilities and benefits of the network. Besides
these categories, other indicators of network performance, such as trunk
blockage, provide valuable information about the end-to-end performance
of the public network. Disaggregate into business and residential
classifications and, where feasible, rural and urban.

**a) Switch and Line Concentrator Outages**

Report the time, date, location, and duration of all switch and line
concentrator outages occurring for two or more minutes in duration.
Annotate the cause of the switch outages, if known. Report switch
outages resulting from regularly-scheduled maintenance separately from
unscheduled switch outages.

**b) Interoffice Transmission Facility Outages**

Report the time, date, location, and duration of all interoffice
transmission facility outages occurring for 6 hours or more in duration,
affecting 500 or more working channels for ten minutes or longer, or
that totally isolate a switch or community. Annotate the cause of the
facility outage, if known.

**[4. Customer Perception]{.smallcaps}**

Customer experience with a telecommunications carrier may not always be
reflected in installation, maintenance, and network performance data.
Monitoring customer complaints to State commissions and U.S. Territories
and the results of telephone surveys provides two methods for assessing
consumer perception of telecommunications service quality.

**a) Customer Complaints**

Report the number of customer contacts to the state commission that were
referred to the carrier for action and/or investigated by the state
commission. Disaggregate into business and residential classifications
and, where feasible, rural and urban.

**b) Customer Surveys**

Report, by state, the percentage of satisfied and dissatisfied customers
gathered from the company\'s internally conducted telephone satisfaction
survey. Disclose sample size, confidence level, and margin of error.
Disaggregate into business and residential classifications and, where
feasible, rural and urban.

**[5. Answer Time Performance]{.smallcaps}**

Customers calling companies can obtain required service through both
automated systems and live attendants. To capture the performance of all
forms of systems, the working group recommends the following performance
measures as a way to monitor answer time performance.[^8]

Report the following measures for the business (including billing) and
repair offices:

a)Total calls attempted

b\) Total calls answered by recorded information

c\) Total calls live-answered by attendants

d\) Total calls abandoned or dropped

e\) Average waiting time for all calls answered live, as measured from
the time the customer chooses to talk to a live operator.

**IV. DEFINITIONS**

[Access Lines:]{.underline} An access line is a channel of varying size
with an associated telephone number. Access lines to be counted: All
public switched network lines, including residence, business, Centrex,
ISDN, Payphone, and voice-grade PBX trunks.

[Basic Service:]{.underline} The provision of access to: one party line
service, local/toll calling, local usage, tone dialing, emergency
services, assistance services, telecommunications relay services,
directory listings, privacy protections and non-published service
associated with the public switched network.

[Held Order:]{.underline} Requests or orders for basic service delayed
over 30 calendar days because of telephone utility plant or workforce
problems.

[Missed Installation Commitment:]{.underline} A missed installation
commitment occurs when basic local exchange service is not provided to
the consumer\'s interface on or before the date and time of the
commitment with the customer.

[Missed Repair Commitment:]{.underline} A missed repair commitment
occurs when a customer trouble is not repaired on or before the date and
time of the commitment with the customer.

[Out-of-Service:]{.underline} A classification of a trouble report where
the customer indicates either: (1) an inability to complete incoming or
outgoing calls; or (2) the presence of interference which causes
connected calls to be incomprehensible.

[Trouble:]{.underline} A trouble is an impairment of the telephone
network, or a deviation from its design specifications.

[Trouble Report:]{.underline} The record of when the repair office
personnel receives notification of a trouble or perceived trouble by a
subscriber, third party, or employee acting as a subscriber or when
other employees receive notification of a trouble or perceived trouble
by a subscriber, third party, or employee acting as a subscriber and
refers the report to the repair office.

[Initial Trouble Report:]{.underline} The first customer trouble report
associated with a specific trouble on a subscriber line for which there
is no pending trouble report.

[Repeat Trouble Report:]{.underline} Customer trouble reports received
within thirty days after the resolution of an initial trouble report on
the same line.

[Subsequent Trouble Report:]{.underline} Customer trouble report made
after an initial or repeat trouble report, but before the carrier has
resolved the initial or repeat trouble report.

[Urban/Rural Areas:]{.underline} Metropolitan Statistical Areas and
non-Metropolitan Statistical Areas are existing categories that can be
used to facilitate comparisons between urban and rural areas.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas (\"MSAs\") are designated by the Office
of Management and Budget in a list released following each decennial
census. As a general rule, an MSA includes at least one city with a
minimum population of 50,000, or an urbanized area with a population of
at least 50,000. All counties not part of an MSA are categorized as
non-MSA areas. Carriers are already familiar with the MSA and non-MSA
categories because the FCC\'s current reporting program uses MSA and
non-MSA categories to depict rural and urban results. Besides the MSA
and non‑MSA categories, States may wish to use other methods for
distinguishing between urban and rural areas, such as the Census Bureau
definitions, including central city.

[^1]: Applications of Ameritech Corp., Transferor, and SBC
    Communications, Inc., Transferee, For Consent to Transfer Control of
    Corporations Holding Commission Licenses and Lines Pursuant to
    Sections 214 and 310(d) of the Communications Act and Parts 5, 22,
    24, 25, 63, 90, 95, and 101 of the Commission's Rules, CC Docket
    98-141, *Memorandum Opinion and Order*, FCC 99-279 (rel. Oct. 8,
    1999) ("*SBC/Ameritech Merger Order*").

[^2]: *See* *SBC/Ameritech Merger Order* at Appendix C, para. 62; *see
    also* National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners,
    [Service Quality White Paper]{.smallcaps} (rel. Nov. 1998) ("NARUC
    Service Quality White Paper"). SBC/Ameritech will also file, on a
    quarterly basis, Table I of the ARMIS 43-05 Service Quality Report,
    which depicts the service quality provided to interexchange
    carriers. *SBC/Ameritech Merger Order* at Appendix C, para. 63.

[^3]: Service quality reporting for some SBC/Ameritech states begins no
    later than 180 days after merger closing date. *See* *SBC/Ameritech
    Merger Order* at Appendix C, para. 62

[^4]: ^?^ As stated in the preamble, the purpose of the 1996 Act is \"to
    promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower
    prices and *higher quality services* for American telecommunications
    consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new
    telecommunications technologies.\"

[^5]: ^?^ For more discussion about the role of information in
    competition, see the National Regulatory Research Institute\'s
    [Telecommunications Service Quality]{.smallcaps} (March 1996).

[^6]: ^?^ *See* \"Resolution Regarding A Federal Service Quality
    Reporting Program\" (adopted by the NARUC Executive Committee on
    March 4, 1998).

[^7]: ^?^ Resellers should indicate the incumbent LEC that provides the
    underlying telecommunications service.

[^8]: ^?^ NOTE: During its discussions, the working group found wide
    variation in the manner in which Answer Time Performance is
    measured.