U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

69–010 

" ! SENATE 115TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT 

2017

115–6 

Calendar No. 19 

IMPROVING RURAL CALL QUALITY AND 

RELIABILITY ACT OF 2017 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

ON

S. 96 

MARCH 21, 2017.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska ED MARKEY, Massachusetts 

DEAN HELLER, Nevada CORY BOOKER, New Jersey 

JIM INHOFE, Oklahoma TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

MIKE LEE, Utah GARY PETERS, Michigan 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

TODD YOUNG, Indiana CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada 

NICK ROSSI, Staff Director 

ADRIAN ARNAKIS, Deputy Staff Director 

JASON VAN BEEK, General Counsel 

KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director 

CHRISTOPHER DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director 


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Calendar No. 19 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 115–6 

IMPROVING RURAL CALL QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ACT 

OF 2017 

MARCH 21, 2017.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. THUNE, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 96] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to 

which was referred the bill (S. 96) to amend the Communications 

Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of voice communications and to 

prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination among areas of the 

United States in the delivery of such communications, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment 

and recommends that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of S. 96, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017, is to ensure the integrity of voice communications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination among 

areas of the United States in the delivery of such communications 

by requiring certain communications providers that carry, route, or 

transmit voice traffic to register with the Federal Communications 

Commission (FCC or Commission) and to meet service quality 

standards to be established by the Commission. 


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1 Rural Call Completion Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Rural 

Call Completion Order, 2013, 28 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Received (Rcd.) 

16154, 16160-61 2013. 2 Ibid. at p. 16161. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Ibid. 

5 Ibid. at p. 16162. 

6See 47 U.S.C. §201(b), 202(a). 7 Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime, Establishing Just and Reasonable 

Rates for Local Exchange Carriers, CC Docket No. 01-92, WC Docket No. 07-135, Declaratory 

Ruling, 27 FCC Rcd 1351, 1356, para. 12 n.37, Wireline Comp. Bur. 2012. 8 Rural Call Completion Order, 28 FCC Rcd., at 16164. 

9 National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) reports that 80 percent of its 

members responding to a questionnaire indicated that they have had call completion problems 

in the past year, and over 25 percent indicated that they receive complaints from subscribers 

at least weekly. Letter from Jill Canfield, Vice President of Legal and Industry, NTCA-The 

Rural Broadband Association, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, WC Docket No. 13-39, 

June 2, 2016. 

BACKGROUND AND NEEDS

The FCC has found that there is a frequent and pervasive inability to properly complete long-distance calls to rural areas.1 The 

problem, known as ‘‘rural call completion,’’ results in lengthy periods of dead air on the calling party’s end after dialing a number, 

audible ringing tones on the calling party’s end when the called 

party’s telephone never rings at all, false busy signals, inaccurate 

intercept messages, and the inability of one or both parties to hear 

the other when the call does go through.2 The Commission has received examples of life-threatening call failures, including a situation where an on-call surgeon was unable to receive a call from a 

hospital for emergency surgery and a 9-1-1 call center was unable 

to complete emergency call backs.3 In rural and small-town America, call completion failures have created ‘‘ ‘dire consequences’ to 

consumers, economic development, and public safety across the Nation.’’4

The FCC has determined that one of the main causes of the rural 

call completion problem is that intermediate providers, companies 

often hired by long distance providers to route and deliver calls to 

local telephone providers serving rural areas, are not completing 

the calls.5 Higher-than-average rates charged to transport and terminate long-distance calls to rural areas create an incentive for 

long-distance providers to hand off these calls to intermediate providers that offer to deliver them cheaply. Those high rates, though, 

also create an incentive for those intermediate providers not to 

complete the calls properly, to avoid paying those higher-than-average transport and termination charges when it is not profitable to 

do so. 

Practices used for routing calls to rural areas that lead to call 

termination and quality problems may violate the Communications 

Act of 1934.6 The Commission has clarified the applicability of its 

rules7 and imposed additional reporting and data retention requirements for local telephone exchange carriers, interexchange carriers 

(i.e., long distance providers), commercial mobile radio service providers (i.e., cellular providers), and voice over Internet protocol providers,8 but call completion problems remain.9

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS

S. 96 would increase the reliability of intermediate providers by 

bringing transparency and standards to the intermediate provider 


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market. Specifically, it would require intermediate providers to register with the Commission and maintain compliance with service 

quality standards to be adopted by the Commission. Covered providers, generally long-distance voice service providers with more 

than 100,000 domestic subscriber lines, would be prohibited from 

using an unregistered intermediate provider to transmit voice communications. The requirements would apply regardless of the format, protocol, or technology by which a communication or service 

is provided or achieved, or the regulatory classification of such communication or service. 

The Commission would have 180 days to promulgate rules to establish the registry of intermediate providers, which would be publicly available. The Commission would have 1 year to promulgate 

rules to establish intermediate provider service quality standards. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 96 was introduced by Senators Klobuchar, Thune, and Tester 

on January 11, 2017. During Executive Session on January 24, 

2017, the Committee, by voice vote, ordered the bill to be reported 

without amendment. 

H.R. 460, a bill identical to S. 96, was introduced in the House 

of Representatives by Representative David Young (IA) and ten cosponsors on January 11, 2017, and was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives. The 

House of Representatives passed that bill by voice vote on January 

23, 2017. 

In the 114th Congress, on June 29, 2016, during Executive Session, the Committee ordered S. 827 to be reported favorably with 

an amendment (in the nature of a substitute) by voice vote. The 

Committee reported version of S. 827, which was introduced by 

Senator Klobuchar, is identical to S. 96, as it was introduced in the 

115th Congress. H.R. 2566, a House of Representatives companion 

bill to S. 827 and introduced by Representative David Young (IA), 

was passed by the House of Representatives on November 14, 2016, 

with language identical to S. 96, as it was introduced in the 115th 

Congress. 

ESTIMATED COSTS

In accordance with paragraph 11(a) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate and section 403 of the Congressional Budget 

Act of 1974, the Committee provides the following cost estimate, 

prepared by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 96—Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency that regulates various aspects of wireline (telephone, for example), wireless, cable, and satellite communications. 

S. 96 would require certain providers of voice communication services to register with the FCC. It also would require the agency to 

issue rules establishing service quality standards for those providers. 

CBO assumes that S. 96 will be enacted in the first half of fiscal 

year 2017. On the basis of an analysis of information from the 

FCC, CBO estimates that implementing S. 96 would cost $4 million 


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over the 2017–2022 period for the agency to establish and operate 

the registry of voice communication service providers and to promulgate rules establishing service quality standards. However, the 

FCC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset the costs of its 

regulatory activities each year. Therefore, CBO estimates that the 

net cost to implement S. 96 would be negligible, assuming annual 

appropriation actions consistent the agency’s authorities. 

Enacting S. 96 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting S. 96 would not increase net direct spending or onbudget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028. 

S. 96 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the 

budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The bill contains private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA. 

Specifically, the bill would require all intermediate providers of 

voice communications services to register with the FCC and to comply with service quality standards established by the agency. (Intermediate providers contract with other telecommunication providers to transmit voice calls from one destination to another.) The 

bill also would require telecommunications providers that contract 

with intermediate providers to use only those providers that are 

registered with the FCC. Lastly, if the FCC increases annual fee 

collections to offset the costs of implementing its additional regulatory activities, the bill would increase the cost of an existing 

mandate on commercial entities required to pay those fees. On the 

basis of information about current industry and regulatory practices, CBO estimates that the incremental cost to comply with the 

requirements of the bill would not be substantial. Further, any increase in fees would amount to no more than $4 million over 2017– 

2022 period. Therefore, CBO estimates that the aggregate cost of 

the mandates in the bill would fall well below the annual threshold 

established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($156 million in 

2017, adjusted annually for inflation). 

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Stephen Rabent (for 

federal costs) and Logan Smith (for private-sector mandates). The 

estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director 

for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT

In accordance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides the following evaluation of the regulatory impact of the legislation, as reported: 

NUMBER OF PERSONS COVERED

The bill, as reported, would require intermediate providers to 

register with the Commission and maintain compliance with service quality standards to be adopted by the Commission. Providers 

that meet the definition of intermediate providers therein would be 

subject to these new compliance requirements. The scope of entities 

covered by the new requirements to register and for service standards would be limited; however, the bill would clarify the definition 

of what constitutes an intermediate provider, ensuring that carVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Mar 22, 2017 Jkt 069010 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR006.XXX SR006

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10 47 C.F.R. §64.2107 

riers that merely originate and terminate traffic are not subject to 

new service quality standards that do not apply to their actions. 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

S. 96 is intended to improve the efficiency and certainty of voice 

communications to rural areas of the country by requiring intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards to be established by the Commission. Further, covered providers would be prohibited from using an intermediate provider that is not registered with the FCC. The Committee expects that improved voice communications for households, 

businesses, and public safety officials located in rural areas will result in positive economic benefits to those areas and the Nation as 

a whole. 

PRIVACY

The bill would not have any adverse impact on the personal privacy of individuals. 

PAPERWORK

The Committee does not anticipate a major increase in paperwork burdens resulting from the passage of this legislation. 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

In compliance with paragraph 4(b) of rule XLIV of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides that no provisions 

contained in the bill, as reported, meet the definition of congressionally directed spending items under the rule. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section. 1. Short title. 

This section provides that this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017.’’ 

Section. 2. Ensuring the integrity of voice communications. 

This section would amend part II of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.) by adding a new section 

262. Section 262 would require that intermediate providers, as defined in such section, register with the Commission and maintain 

compliance with service quality standards to be adopted by the 

Commission. The Commission would have 180 days to promulgate 

rules to establish the registry and 1 year to promulgate rules to establish service quality standards. Carriers that qualify for the 

FCC’s ‘‘safe harbor’’10 within 1 year of enactment (and maintain 

their qualification) would still be required to register, but would 

not have to comply with the service quality standards. 

Covered providers, as defined in section 64.2101 of title 47 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (generally those providers of long-distance voice service that make the initial long-distance call path 

choice for more than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines), 


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would not be permitted to use an unregistered intermediate provider to transmit most voice communications. 

The FCC would be required to establish the registry to record intermediate provider registrations, make the registry publicly available on the Commission’s website, and establish intermediate provider service quality standards. In establishing those standards, 

the Commission would be required to prevent unjust and unreasonable discrimination among areas of the United States in the delivery of voice communications, regardless of the format or protocol by 

which the service is provided. 

Nothing in the new section 262 would preempt or expand the authority of a State public utilities commission or other agency to collect data or investigate or enforce State call completion laws or regulations. 

The new section 262 would further provide that its requirements 

apply regardless of the format by which any communication or 

service is provided, the protocol or format by which the transmission of such communication or service is achieved, or the regulatory classification of such communication or service. In addition, 

it would provide that nothing in such section be construed to affect 

the regulatory classification of any communication or service. Steps 

taken by the Commission to promote service quality standards with 

its rulemaking could include the adoption of specific call completion 

metrics or the more general adoption of duties to complete calls 

analogous to those that already apply to covered providers under 

prior Commission rules and orders. 

Finally, the new section 262 would define an ‘‘intermediate provider’’ as an entity that enters into a business arrangement with 

a covered provider or other intermediate provider for the specific 

purpose of carrying, routing, or transmitting voice traffic. The Committee intends that to meet this definition, an entity must have a 

business relationship for the specific purpose of carrying, routing, 

or transmitting traffic. It is not the intent of the Committee that 

this definition be interpreted to cover entities that only incidentally 

transmit voice traffic, like Internet Service Providers who may 

carry voice traffic alongside other packet data, without a specific 

business arrangement to carry, route, or transmit that voice traffic. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as 

reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in black brackets, new material is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

PART II OF TITLE II OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934 

[47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.] 

SEC. 262. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS. 

(a) REGISTRATION AND COMPLIANCE BY INTERMEDIATE PROVIDERS.—An intermediate provider that offers or holds itself out as 

offering the capability to transmit covered voice communications 

from one destination to another and that charges any rate to any 

other entity (including an affiliated entity) for the transmission 

shall— 


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(1) register with the Commission; and 

(2) comply with the service quality standards for such transmission to be established by the Commission under subsection 

(c)(1)(B). 

(b) REQUIRED USE OF REGISTERED INTERMEDIATE PROVIDERS.— 

A covered provider may not use an intermediate provider to transmit covered voice communications unless such intermediate provider 

is registered under subsection (a)(1). 

(c) COMMISSION RULES.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.— 

(A) REGISTRY.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 

enactment of this section, the Commission shall promulgate 

rules to establish a registry to record registrations under 

subsection (a)(1). 

(B) SERVICE QUALITY STANDARDS.—Not later than 1 year 

after the date of enactment of this section, the Commission 

shall promulgate rules to establish service quality standards for the transmission of covered voice communications 

by intermediate providers. 

(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In promulgating the rules required by 

paragraph (1), the Commission shall— 

(A) ensure the integrity of the transmission of covered 

voice communications to all customers in the United States; 

and 

(B) prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination among 

areas of the United States in the delivery of covered voice 

communications. 

(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REGISTRY.—The Commission shall 

make the registry established under subsection (c)(1)(A) publicly 

available on the website of the Commission. 

(e) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—The requirements of this section 

shall apply regardless of the format by which any communication 

or service is provided, the protocol or format by which the transmission of such communication or service is achieved, or the regulatory classification of such communication or service. 

(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the regulatory classification of any communication 

or service. 

(g) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this section shall be 

construed to preempt or expand the authority of a State public utility commission or other relevant State agency to collect data, or investigate and enforce State law and regulations, regarding the completion of intrastate voice communications, regardless of the format 

by which any communication or service is provided, the protocol or 

format by which the transmission of such communication or service 

is achieved, or the regulatory classification of such communication 

or service. 

(h) EXCEPTION.—The requirement under subsection (a)(2) to comply with the service quality standards established under subsection 

(c)(1)(B) shall not apply to a covered provider that— 

(1) on or before the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, has certified as a Safe Harbor provider 

under section 64.2107(a) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation; and 


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(2) continues to meet the requirements under such section 

64.2107(a). 

(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

(1) COVERED PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘covered provider’’ has the 

meaning given the term in section 64.2101 of title 47, Code of 

Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto. 

(2) COVERED VOICE COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘covered 

voice communication’’ means a voice communication (including 

any related signaling information) that is generated— 

(A) from the placement of a call from a connection using 

a North American Numbering Plan resource or a call 

placed to a connection using such a numbering resource; 

and 

(B) through any service provided by a covered provider. 

(3) INTERMEDIATE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘intermediate provider’’ means any entity that— 

(A) enters into a business arrangement with a covered 

provider or other intermediate provider for the specific purpose of carrying, routing, or transmitting voice traffic that 

is generated from the placement of a call placed— 

(i) from an end user connection using a North American Numbering Plan resource; or 

(ii) to an end user connection using such a numbering resource; and 

(B) does not itself, either directly or in conjunction with 

an affiliate, serve as a covered provider in the context of 

originating or terminating a given call. 

Æ 


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