Local telephone providers across the nation, including VTel, have been reporting an alarming increase in complaints from customers regarding incoming long distance call terminations. These problems arise when long distance carriers use third-party “least-cost routers” to reduce the cost of routing calls to rural areas.

VTel has diligently reported each customer-submitted incident to the FCC and encouraged Vermont legislators to press for a resolution to this national epidemic.

On February 8, 2012, the FCC adopted a declaratory ruling regarding call termination. It states that carriers that deliberately fail to complete calls to rural areas could face cease and desist orders, forfeiture, license revocations and fines of up to $1.5 million.

“If carriers continue to hand off calls to agents, intermediate providers or others that a carrier knows are not completing a reasonable percentage of calls, or are otherwise restricting traffic, that is an unjust or unreasonable practice prohibited by section 201 of the [Telecommunications] Act,” the FCC said.

The commission also noted that enforcement action would not be restricted only to carriers that fail to complete calls but also would include practices such as informing a caller that a number is not reachable or is out of service when the number is, in fact, reachable and in service. Such practices, the FCC said, are deceptive or misleading and therefore are unjust and unreasonable practices under Section 201(b) of the Act.

For more information, view the FCC's declaratory ruling.