Level 3 Agrees To Adopt Rigorous New Call Completion Standards And Provide Rural Call Completion Data, Resolving FCC Investigation

Level 3 Communications, resolving an investigation into the company’s rural call completion practices, has agreed to meet rigorous, verifiable call completion standards and to provide extensive records that will assist Federal Communications Commission enforcement of rules protecting against failed calls to rural areas. Level 3 will also make a $975,000 voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury, and has agreed to make additional $1 million voluntary contributions going forward if it misses specified quarterly benchmarks.

In its consent decree with the Enforcement Bureau, Level 3 has agreed to:

• Complete long-distance calls to incumbent local exchange carriers in rural areas at a rate within 5% of that in non-rural areas over a two-year period.
• Report compliance with the 5% benchmark every quarter, beginning in January 2014.
• Pay an additional $1 million voluntary contribution if it misses the 5% benchmark in any quarter.
• Develop scorecards for intermediate providers that Level 3 uses to route calls, assessing their performance in the areas of post-dial delay in connecting calls, network failure, and call completion rates.
• Identify problematic routes to intermediate providers monthly.
• Cease using poorly performing intermediate providers.
• Assist the Enforcement Bureau in other investigations by providing data concerning the performance of intermediate providers.