The FCC needs to enforce penalties against call completion offenders, NARUC told the agency inna Monday letter sent one year after the commission’s declaratory ruling on the issue (http://xrl.us/bogbos).nAs expected (CD Feb 5 p16), state commissioners “urge the FCC to take the decisive steps necessarynwithin the next several weeks to see that rural consumers and businesses do not face continuing disconnectionnfrom the rest of America,” the letter said. “Additional data collections that might help identify additional non-compliant carriers are welcome, but are no substitute for immediate enforcement of the rulesnoutlined in the January 2012 declaratory ruling.” The letter included eight pages of signatures from scoresnof state commissioners, totaling 112 from 44 states. State representatives had voiced a mixture of disappointmentnand skepticism when first hearing last month details of the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking,nwhich would mandate data collections to assist FCC investigations (CD Jan 28 p13). The NPRM wasnreleased Feb. 7, and the FCC may have an order as early as this fall, Wireline Bureau Chief Julie Veachntold NARUC audiences. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., credited his own efforts with leading to the NPRM,nin a release Monday (http://xrl.us/bogbra) expressing “frustration that no enforcement action has yet beenntaken.” While appreciative of the NPRM and ongoing FCC staff investigations (CD Feb 6 p14) into callncompletion, NARUC President Philip Jones noted that "we’ve known about these problems for years, andnno companies have been punished." The "inability to complete a simple telephone call is more than just anminor irritation, it is a significant safety and public health concern," he said in a written statement (http:/xrl.us/bogbrz). "Effective enforcement is essential, and it has been missing for some time.”
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