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NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12
th
Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
March 12, 2013 Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253
E-mail: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov
LEVEL 3 AGREES TO ADOPT RIGOROUS NEW CALL COMPLETION STANDARDS AND 
PROVIDE RURAL CALL COMPLETION DATA, RESOLVING FCC INVESTIGATION
Level 3 Will Make a Nearly $1 Million Voluntary Contribution As 
Part of First Settlement of a Rural Call Completion Investigation
Washington, DC – Level 3 Communications, LLC, 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 FCC 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.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “When calls to Americans in rural communities aren’t 
reliably completed, the consequences are both life-threatening and damaging economically.  As 
today’s action shows, resolving this complex problem is a major priority for the FCC.  We will 
follow the facts and data, and we will hold responsible parties accountable.”
Enforcement Bureau Chief Michele Ellison said, “Basic long distance phone calls are failing in 
many areas of rural America at alarming rates.  This is unacceptable.  Rural residents and 
businesses should be able to receive a work-related or emergency call with the same reliability 
and call quality as others do.”  
Ms. Ellison added, “Through this settlement, Level 3 has committed to tackle this issue head-on, 
agreeing to adopt tough, new call completion benchmarks, to back these standards with 
significant noncompliance penalties, and to disclose critical data that will assist the Bureau in 
other ongoing investigations.  We are aggressively pursuing this problem wherever it leads, and 
there will be significant consequences for those companies that are not fulfilling their obligations 
to rural America.”  
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.
In general, rural call completion failures appear to be caused primarily by long-distance carriers 
or intermediate providers attempting to reduce the intercarrier compensation paid to local 
telephone companies for completing long-distance calls to a rural home or business.  To 
minimize these charges, providers often use third-party “least-cost routers,” which attempt to 
connect calls at the lowest possible cost.
The FCC has been working on many fronts to address this complex and technical problem.  In 
February 2012, the Wireline Competition Bureau laid the foundation for today’s settlement by 
clarifying that a long distance provider violates the Communications Act if it knows or should 
know that it is providing degraded service to certain areas and fails to correct the problem.  Last 
month, the Commission proposed industry-wide data collection and reporting rules to enable the 
FCC to better monitor the performance of long-distance carriers in rural areas.  These new 
reporting requirements, coupled with access to Level 3’s data, should strengthen the Bureau’s 
enforcement capabilities.  Over the long-term, the FCC’s November 2011 Universal 
Service/Intercarrier Compensation Transformation Order is phasing out intercarrier fees, which 
will dramatically reduce financial incentives that appear to be driving call completion failures.  
“This settlement reflects hard work and tenacity by the staff and meaningful cooperation by 
Level 3,” said Ms. Ellison.  The FCC continues to work closely with all stakeholders to resolve 
the problem as investigations continue.
Enforcement Bureau Staff Contact:  Christopher Killion at 202-418-1711 or Margaret Dailey at 202-418-
2396.
-FCC-
News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found
on the Commission’s web site www.fcc.gov.