Changes are here for Rural Call Completion reporting and compliance.  The good news is that the FCC has ruled in FCC18-45 that, effective immediately, Covered Providers no longer must submit FCC 480 – Rural Call Completion Reports to the FCC on a quarterly basis. Thus, the report that was due May 15, 2018 covering the 1^st Quarter, 2018 does not have to be submitted.

However, there are new and increased FCC regulations as spelled out in the Second Rural Completion Orderthat was published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2018 and that goes into effect on June 11, 2018.  Covered Providers, as defined in the previous Rural Call Completion Report regime, must now implement an internal contract management and monitoring process that is far more stringent than anything experienced previously.

Part of the impetus for the new FCC ruling is the Rural Quality and Reliability Act that was signed into law by President Trump on February 26, 2018.

“This law will increase the reliability of Intermediate Providers by bringing transparency and standards to the market.  The FCC has been charged with creating these standards within 180 days (August 27, 2018).”

Now, the FCC in its most recent ruling has ordered Covered Providers to measure answer rates and call completion rates at the Intermediate Provider level.