Telecommunications Provider Locator
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Telecommunications Provider Locator Industry Analysis & Technology Division Wireline Competition Bureau January 2010 This report is available for reference in the FCC’s Information Center at 445 12th Street, S.W., Courtyard Level. Copies may be purchased by contacting Best Copy and Printing, Inc., Portals II, 445 12th Street S.W., Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, telephone 800-378-3160, facsimile 202-488-5563, or via e-mail at [email protected]. This report can be downloaded and interactively searched on the Wireline Competition Bureau Statistical Reports Internet site located at www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/locator.html. Telecommunications Provider Locator This report lists the contact information, primary telecommunications business and service(s) offered by 6,493 telecommunications providers. The last report was released March 13, 2009.1 The information in this report is drawn from providers’ Telecommunications Reporting Worksheets (FCC Form 499-A). It can be used by customers to identify and locate telecommunications providers, by telecommunications providers to identify and locate others in the industry, and by equipment vendors to identify potential customers. Virtually all providers of telecommunications must file FCC Form 499-A each year.2 These forms are not filed with the FCC but rather with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which serves as the data collection agent. The pool of filers contained in this edition consists of companies that operated and collected revenue during 2007, as well as new companies that file the form to fulfill the Commission’s registration requirement.3 Information from filings received by USAC after October 13, 2008, and from filings that were incomplete has been excluded from this report. Although many telecommunications providers offer an extensive menu of services, each filer is asked on Line 105 of FCC Form 499-A to select the five categories that best describe its telecommunications business. Table 1 lists the categories from which the filer can choose and the number of filers that selected each. In some cases, filer selections were changed based on supplemental information. Within each category, Table 1 also notes how many filers can be characterized as “local / long distance” providers. We recognize that as providers increasingly are engaged in multiple lines of business, characterizing them as entities that provide one type of service may not fully reflect the nature of their business activities. We have identified filers that on a holding company level of aggregation provided substantial amounts of wireline local and long distance telephony. Holding companies were classified as local / long distance if each of these revenue categories represented more than 10% of their total end-user telecommunications billings, or if they reported at least $50 million in end-user revenue in each category. Wireless telecommunications providers, on the other hand, were included in the local / long distance category if, at the holding-company level, at 1 Industry Analysis and Technology Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, Telecommunications Provider Locator (rel. March 13, 2009). 2 There are certain exceptions. Providers that offer telecommunications for a fee exclusively on a non-common carrier basis are not required to file if their total annual contribution to universal service would be less than $10,000. Government entities that purchase telecommunications services in bulk on their own behalf, public safety and local government entities licensed under Subpart B of Part 90 of the Commission’s rules, entities providing interstate telecommunications exclusively to government or public safety entities, broadcasters and various non-profit entities are not required to file. Finally, systems integrators that derive less than 5% of their systems integration revenue from the resale of telecommunications and entities that provide services only to themselves or to commonly-owned affiliates need not file. 3 A telecommunications carrier intending to provide interstate telecommunications service can fulfill its registration requirement by filing pages 1, 2, 3, and 8 of FCC Form 499-A with the data collection agent (see 47 C.F.R. § 64.1195). 1 least 10% of end-user telecommunications revenue was interstate. Because of the way their revenue was reported, we were unable to determine which payphone, satellite, prepaid card and operator service affiliates fell into the local / long distance category. Note that a local / long distance designation holds no implications about the way a filer sells telecommunications services. That is, a filer categorized as a local / long distance provider may have many local-only and long distance-only customers, as well as customers taking local and long distance as a bundle. Comparisons of the number of filers in Table 1 over time would not be meaningful due to changes to the Commission’s rules regarding the filing of FCC Form 499-A. Originally, a FCC Form 499- A filing was required from each and every legal entity providing interstate telecommunications for a fee. An exception allowing consolidated filing was adopted in early 2002.4 It is now permissible, under certain conditions, for telecommunications providers to file summary worksheets that cover related legal entities. The current report includes 49 consolidated filings, covering 583 individual legal entities. Therefore, changes in the number of filers over time can be attributed to consolidated filing as well as other factors.5 Table 2 shows the number of filers that reported revenue in each of ten broad service categories. Generally, revenue is from services provided to other carriers for resale (i.e., carrier’s carrier) and/or directly to end users. In each of these two broad categories, filers can derive revenue from the following specific services: local, mobile, payphone, operator services and prepaid calling cards, and/or other toll services. Since many filers report revenue from the provision of more than one service, the sum of the number of filers by service type in Table 2 is greater than the number of individual filers. Table 2 also shows the number of filers that contribute a portion of their interstate end-user revenue to maintain universal service. Most telecommunications providers are required to contribute to the universal service fund, but there are exceptions. Section 54.706 of the Commission’s rules requires all telecommunications carriers providing interstate telecommunications services, providers of interstate telecommunications that offer interstate telecommunications for a fee on a non-common carrier basis, and payphone providers that are aggregators to contribute to universal service. The primary reason that only 2,773 of the 6,493 filers actually contribute to the universal service fund is that no contribution is required if a filer’s 4 See Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, 1998 Biennial Regulatory Review – Streamlined Contributor Reporting Requirements Associated with Administration of Telecommunications Relay Service, North American Numbering Plan, Local Number Portability, and Universal Service Support Mechanisms, Telecommunications Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Administration of the North American Numbering Plan and North American Numbering Plan Cost Recovery Contribution Factor and Fund Size, Number Resource Optimization, Telephone Number Portability, Truth-in-Billing and Billing Format, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 98-171, 90-571, 92-237, 99-200, 95-116, 98-170, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Report and Order, 17 FCC Rcd 3752 (rel. Feb. 26, 2002). 5 The numbers of local and toll service providers reporting revenue on FCC Form 499-A are tracked over time in Tables 8.7 and 9.4, respectively, of the most recent Trends in Telephone Service report (Trends) (rel. August 28, 2008). It is vital to note that the numbers of providers shown in Table 1 of this report will not match the numbers reported in Trends. In addition to current providers, this report includes the contact information of new providers that filed FCC Form 499-A anytime to fulfill their registration requirement (see 47 C.F.R. § 64.1195). Since these new providers generally have no revenue to report, they are excluded from the tabulations reported in Trends. 2 total annual contribution would be less than $10,000. While many telecommunications providers do not contribute to universal service for this reason, they are generally required to support numbering administration, local number portability, and telecommunications relay services.6 In addition, Table 2 indicates whether filers are active or inactive. Again, the universe of FCC Form 499-A filers includes not only those entities that provided telecommunications during the year 2007, but also new companies fulfilling their registration requirement.7 Of those filers that declared some revenue in 2007, those not known to have merged, declared bankruptcy, or ceased operation for some other reason by October 13, 2008 are listed as active. Newly registered filers are also listed as active, although they generally have no revenue to report. Table 3 lists 6,493 FCC Form 499-A filers alphabetically by legal name. For each filer, Table 3 shows contact information including legal name, address of corporate headquarters, telephone number for customer inquiries, principal communications business, and holding company.8 This table also shows