U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

39–008 

" ! SENATE 113TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT

2013

113–130 

Calendar No. 276 

A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF 

THE SENATE THAT TELEPHONE SERVICE 

MUST BE IMPROVED IN RURAL AREAS 

OF THE UNITED STATES AND THAT NO 

ENTITY MAY UNREASONABLY 

DISCRIMINATE AGAINST TELEPHONE 

USERS IN THOSE AREAS 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

ON

S. Res. 157 

DECEMBER 19, 2013.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

MARK PRYOR, Arkansas 

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

MARK WARNER, Virginia 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

ED MARKEY, Massachusetts 

CORY BOOKER, New Jersey 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire 

DEAN HELLER, Nevada 

DAN COATS, Indiana 

TIM SCOTT, South Carolina 

TED CRUZ, Texas 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

ELLEN DONESKI, Staff Director 

JOHN WILLIAMS, General Counsel 

DAVID SCHWIETERT, Republican Staff Director 

NICK ROSSI, Republican Deputy Staff Director 

REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel 


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Calendar No. 276 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 113–130 

A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT TELEPHONE SERVICE MUST BE IMPROVED IN RURAL AREAS OF THE UNITED 

STATES AND THAT NO ENTITY MAY UNREASONABLY DISCRIMINATE 

AGAINST TELEPHONE USERS IN THOSE AREAS 

DECEMBER 19, 2013.—Ordered to be printed 

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

Transportation, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. Res. 157] 

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to 

which was referred the Senate resolution (S. Res. 157) a resolution 

expressing the sense of the Senate that telephone service must be 

improved in rural areas of the United States and that no entity 

may unreasonably discriminate against telephone users in those 

areas, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with 

an amendment (in the nature of a substitute) and recommends that 

the resolution (as amended) do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE RESOLUTION

The purpose of S. Res. 157, as reported, is to express the sense 

of the Senate that telephone service must be improved in rural 

areas of the United States and that no entity may unreasonably 

discriminate against communications service in those areas. It also 

calls upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to aggressively enforce violations of its rules to discourage such unreasonable discrimination. 

BACKGROUND AND NEEDS

In order for a long distance or wireless carrier to complete one 

of its subscriber’s calls, the carrier must deliver the call to the exchange serving the called party. The physical process of delivering 

the call to the exchange is called ‘‘routing,’’ and the charge paid by 

the long distance company to the local carrier is called an ‘‘access 

charge.’’ These charges help pay for the cost of rural networks. 


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Carriers often have multiple ways to route a call to its destination. In order to reduce access charges, some carriers have contracted with third-party ‘‘least-cost routing’’ service providers. 

These providers connect calls to their destination at the lowest cost 

possible. Although many of these contracts include performance parameters, it appears that all too frequently those performance levels are not being met and a portion of calls are never connected. 

Recurring complaints indicate that rural consumers are having 

significant problems receiving long distance or wireless calls on 

their landline telephones. According to trade associations that represent rate-of-return carriers in rural areas, consumer complaints 

related to call completion problems have increased dramatically in 

recent years. According to data filed by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) with the FCC in 2011, 80 

percent of rural carriers responding to one survey reported problems. In addition, NTCA data indicated that reports from rural 

subscribers who had problems receiving calls increased by over 

2,000 percent in the twelve-month period from April 2010 to March 

2011. 

In February 2012, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling making 

clear that rural call routing practices that lead to call termination 

and call quality problems could be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act). Specifically, the FCC concluded that such call routing practices may constitute unjust and 

unreasonable practices in violation of the Act and may violate a 

carrier’s section 202 duty to refrain from unjust or unreasonable 

discrimination in practices, facilities, or services. The FCC also emphasized that, under section 217 of the Act, carriers are responsible 

for the actions of their agents or other persons acting for or employed by the carriers. 

Despite this action, studies prepared by the National Exchange 

Carrier Association (NECA) suggest that rural call completion 

problems did not abate and may have grown. As a result, the FCC 

released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on February 7, 

2013, exploring the issues surrounding call completion. The NPRM 

seeks more detailed calling information from long-distance voice 

and Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers that could help 

isolate and address rural call completion problems. In addition, the 

FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is investigating several long-distance 

providers for call completion problems. For example, in March 

2013, the FCC announced a consent decree with Level 3 Communications relating to the company’s call completion practices, pursuant to which Level 3 agreed to pay an almost $1 million voluntary 

contribution to the FCC and to abide by certain ‘‘verifiable’’ call 

completion standards and record-keeping obligations. 

NTCA and other groups have argued that call completion problems compromise the integrity and reliability of the public-switched 

telephone network and threaten the public safety, homeland security, consumer welfare, and economic well-being in rural America. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

In the 113th Congress, Senator Klobuchar introduced S. Res. 157 

on May 23, 2013. The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Baldwin, 

Boozman, Boxer, Cantwell, Enzi, Fischer, Franken, Grassley, HarVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:43 Dec 20, 2013 Jkt 039008 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6601 E:\HR\OC\SR130.XXX SR130

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kin, Hoeven, Tim Johnson, Leahy, Merkley, Pryor, Roberts, Sanders, Tester, and Thune. 

The Committee held an executive session on July 30, 2013, during which S. Res. 157 was considered. Senator Klobuchar submitted an amendment making technical changes to S. Res. 157, 

which was adopted by voice vote. S. Res. 157, as amended, was reported favorably by the Committee. 

ESTIMATED COSTS

The Committee states that, in its opinion, paragraph 11(a) of 

rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate does not apply to 

this resolution. 

REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT

The Committee states that, in its opinion, paragraph 11(b) of 

rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate does not apply to 

this resolution. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

S. Res. 157 expresses the sense of the Senate that telephone 

service must be improved in rural areas of the United States and 

that no entity may unreasonably discriminate against telephone 

users in those areas. 

S. Res. 157 includes documentation of the scope of the call completion problems in rural America. Specifically, evidence collected 

by the NECA indicates the following: (1) call completion problems 

increased by 41 percent between March and September of 2012; (2) 

6.4 percent of calls to rural areas failed, compared to 0.5 percent 

of calls to urban areas; and (3) 11 percent of calls to rural areas 

suffered from poor quality or were delayed, compared to 5 percent 

of calls in urban areas. It also recounts the steps the FCC has 

taken to date to combat the call completion problem, including its 

Declaratory Ruling in February 2012. 

S. Res. 157 also states that the FCC’s actions to combat call completion problems have not significantly decreased the incidence of 

problems, and that some States are reporting increases in call completion issues as of April 2013. Finally, S. Res. 157 notes that call 

completion issues affect public safety and economic activity in rural 

areas. 

Given the foregoing, S. Res. 157 would resolve that it is the sense 

of the Senate that— 

(1) all providers must appropriately complete calls to all 

areas of the United States, regardless of the technology used 

by providers; 

(2) no entity may unreasonably discriminate against communications service in rural areas of the United States; and 

(3) the Federal Communications Commission should— 

(A) aggressively pursue those that violate the rules of 

the Federal Communications Commission and create these 

problems, and impose swift and meaningful enforcement 

actions to discourage— 

(i) practices leading to telephone calls not being 

completed in rural areas of the United States; and 


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(ii) unreasonable discrimination against communications service in rural areas of the United States; and 

(B) move forward with clear, comprehensive, and enforceable actions to establish a robust and definitive solution to stop discrimination against communications service 

in rural areas of the United States. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee states that the bill as reported 

would make no change to existing law. 

Æ 


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