FCC Expected to Unanimously OK Rural Call Completion Order With Few Changes
The FCC appears poised to approve a rural call completion order with only modest changes to a draft, agency officials said. They said the vote at Friday's commissioners' meeting seems likely to be unanimous, though one said some concerns could…
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be expressed. NTCA had urged the FCC to strengthen its proposed "flexible" intermediate provider service-quality standards and make its proposed sunset of "covered" originating provider record-keeping duties contingent on RCC rule effectiveness (see 1903050041). But CTIA and USTelecom backed the data recording and retention relief (see 1903080022 and 1903110070). Major changes aren't in the works, the commission officials said. A requirement for a bureau-level report on rural call completion is expected to be added to the item at the request of Democratic commissioners, and concerns about call-delivery overseas are expected to be addressed, "buried in the details," said one official. Attorney Robert Koppel of Lukas LaFuria said he's "optimistic" the FCC will address a problem he raised on behalf of long-distance providers handing off 100 percent of their voice traffic directly to foreign carriers terminating outside the country. He urged the FCC to clarify "it will not require the final 'intermediate provider' in the United States to ensure that any additional, non-U.S. intermediate providers, are registered" with the commission.