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[Senate Report 113-130]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

113th Congress         }        SENATE        {             Report
1st Session            }                      {             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

       SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                    ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

            JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman
BARBARA BOXER, California            JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BILL NELSON, Florida                 ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington           ROY BLUNT, Missouri
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas                 MARCO RUBIO, Florida
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             DEAN HELLER, Nevada
MARK WARNER, Virginia                DAN COATS, Indiana
MARK BEGICH, Alaska                  TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      TED CRUZ, Texas
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
ED MARKEY, Massachusetts             RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey
                     Ellen Doneski, Staff Director
                     John Williams, General Counsel
              David Schwietert, Republican Staff Director
              Nick Rossi, Republican Deputy Staff Director
               Rebecca Seidel, Republican General Counsel

                                                       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

                                 REPORT

                       [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.
  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, Harkin, 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
                          (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.

                                  
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