On at least three occasions in 2014 and 2015, a consumer in rural Minnesota complained about problems receiving long distance work phone calls, this led to lost income and fears of job losses; Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week announced inContact will pay a $100,000 civil penalty and implement a compliance plan to prevent recurrence of issues that led to this investigation  

 

Persistent phone call completion problems in rural communities are creating major inconveniences for families, hurting businesses, and threatening public safety; legislation introduced by Klobuchar would direct the 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 


WASHINGTON, DC – After efforts from Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced this week 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. Persistent phone call completion problems in rural communities are creating major inconveniences for families, hurting businesses, and threatening public safety. To help solve this problem, Klobuchar and Senator Jon Tester introduced the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act last year. This legislation would direct the 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. 

“Chronic phone call completion problems across rural America cause headaches for families trying to stay connected, hurt small businesses trying to reach customers, and endanger citizens trying to make urgent phone calls,” Klobuchar said. “This action from the Federal Communications Commission is a welcome step forward but more needs to be done to address rural call completion issues. Congress can help solve this problem by passing my legislation that sets commonsense standards for providers to help ensure families, businesses, and emergency responders have access to the reliable phone service they need.”

The Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act would direct the FCC to establish basic quality standards for providers that transmit voice calls to help prevent the discriminatory delivery of calls to any and all areas of our country. The legislation also directs the FCC to require these providers to register with the agency. 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.  

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.   

###