Persistent phone call completion problems in rural communities are creating major inconveniences for families, hurting businesses, and threatening public safety

The Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act would direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish basic quality standards for providers that transmit voice calls to help ensure businesses, families, and emergency responders can count on phone calls being completed


WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today announced that legislation she introduced to improve rural call completion has passed the Senate Commerce Committee, paving the way for a vote in the full Senate. Persistent phone call completion problems in rural communities are creating major inconveniences for families, hurting businesses, and threatening public safety. The Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish basic quality standards for providers that transmit voice calls to help ensure businesses, families, and emergency responders can count on phone calls being completed.

“Where you live should not determine your ability to stay connected to the world around you. Families, businesses, and emergency responders in rural communities in Minnesota and across the country depend on reliable phone service to go about their everyday activities,” Klobuchar said. “Today’s action brings us one step closer to enacting commonsense standards for providers to help ensure that our rural communities have access to the reliable phone service they need.”

The Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act would direct the FCC to require providers that transmit voice calls to register with the agency and establish quality standards for transmitting voice calls. These reforms would ensure small businesses, families, and emergency responders in rural America can once again rely upon their telephone calls being completed. The legislation is supported by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, and WTA-Advocates for Rural Broadband.

After efforts from Senator Amy Klobuchar, the FCC announced last month that inContact, a long-distance phone call provider, will pay a $100,000 penalty and implement a compliance plan to prevent the recurrence of issues following a rural call completion investigation in Minnesota. On at least three occasions in 2014 and 2015, a consumer in rural Minnesota complained about problems receiving long distance work phone calls, which led to lost income and fears of losing her job.

Klobuchar is a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and has been a leader in pushing to expand and improve communications infrastructure in rural areas. In 2013, Klobuchar introduced and passed a resolution through the Senate Commerce Committee urging the FCC to take action to solve the problems with the completion of calls in rural areas, after which the FCC took some preliminary regulatory and enforcement actions to curb the problem. At oversight hearings, she has also put repeated pressure on the FCC to ensure the agency continues to make rural call completion issues a priority.

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