WTA Praises House Communications and Technology Subcommittee for Passing H.R. 2566
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 13, 2016) – WTA–Advocates for Rural Broadband praises the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee for passing H.R. 2566, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, introduced by Rep. David Young (R-IA) and cosponsored by Communications and Technology members Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND).
“The small, rural telecommunications companies WTA represents are appreciative of the Subcommittee approving this bill, and we’re hopeful it can quickly be advanced to the full committee level and passed by the House,” said Derrick Owens, WTA’s Vice President of Government Affairs.
H.R. 2566 directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address the ongoing problem of telephone calls not always being completed to rural areas. Specifically, the bill would require all intermediate providers of voice communications services to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards established by the agency. For several years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of telephone calls not being completed in rural areas mostly due to the use of least cost routers that, at times, do not terminate calls in rural areas because of the cost. A similar bill was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee in June.
