Carrier Locator: Interstate Service Providers November 1997 Jim Lande Katie Rangos Industry Analysis Division Common Carrier Bureau Federal Communications Commission Washington, DC 20554 This report is available for reference in the Common Carrier Bureau's Public Reference Room, 2000 M Street, N.W. Washington DC, Room 575. Copies may be purchased by calling International Transcription Service, Inc. at (202) 857-3800. The report can also be downloaded [file name LOCAT-97.ZIP] from the FCC-State Link internet site at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats on the World Wide Web. The report can also be downloaded from the FCC-State Link computer bulletin board system at (202) 418-0241. Carrier Locator: Interstate Service Providers Contents Introduction 1 Table 1: Number of Carriers Filing 1997 TRS Fund Worksheets 7 by Type of Carrier and Type of Revenue Table 2: Telecommunications Common Carriers: 9 Carriers that filed a 1997 TRS Fund Worksheet or a September 1997 Universal Service Worksheet, with address and customer contact number Table 3: Telecommunications Common Carriers: 65 Listing of carriers sorted by carrier type, showing types of revenue reported for 1996 Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) and 65 Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) Cellular and Personal Communications Services (PCS) 68 Carriers Interexchange Carriers (IXCs) 83 Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) 86 Paging and Other Mobile Service Carriers 111 Operator Service Providers (OSPs) 118 Other Toll Service Providers 119 Pay Telephone Providers 120 Pre-paid Calling Card Providers 129 Toll Resellers 130 Table 4: Carriers that are not expected to file in the 137 future using the same TRS ID because of merger, reorganization, name change, or leaving the business Table 5: Carriers that filed a 1995 or 1996 TRS Fund worksheet 141 and that are unaccounted for in 1997 i Introduction This report lists 3,832 companies that provided interstate telecommunications service as of June 30, 1997. For each carrier, this report shows an address, a telephone number and the types of services that the carrier provided. This report is used by customers and other carriers to identify and locate sources of telecommunications service, by equipment vendors to identify potential customers, and by the FCC for various regulatory purposes. This report was compiled from two primary sources: 1997 Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund worksheets and September 1997 Universal Service Fund (USF) worksheets. The tables reflect database information extracted by the TRS and interim USF administrators in early October. Carriers that filed after that time or that filed incomplete information may not be shown in the lists of current interstate service providers. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires all providers of interstate telecommunications service to share in the costs of financing interstate TRS. TRS is a telephone transmission service that allows people with hearing or speech impairments to use the telephone. The FCC has established a TRS Fund and directed the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) to serve as the Administrator. Each carrier that provides interstate service must file an annual TRS Fund worksheet with the Administrator. The worksheet summarizes a carrier's revenues and is used to calculate its contribution to the TRS Fund. Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 requires providers of interstate telecommunications services to contribute to the preservation and advancement of universal service. The Commission established a federal universal service fund as a support mechanism for telecommunications services in high cost rural areas and for certain telecommunications services provided to schools, libraries and rural health care providers. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Report and Order, CC Docket No. 96-45, FCC 97-157, 12 FCC Rcd 8776 (1997); Order on Reconsideration, FCC 97-246 (rel. July 10, 1997); Second Order on Reconsideration, FCC 97-253 (rel. July 18, 1997). Most interstate telecommunications service providers are required to file a semi-annual USF worksheet with the interim USF Administrator (NECA). The September 1997 worksheet summarizes a carrier's revenues for the first half of 1997 and will be used by the Administrator to calculate the carrier's contribution to the USF fund for the first half of 1998. This publication should include all carriers that provided interstate telecommunications services in 1996. Local telephone companies file both TRS and USF worksheets because they provide interstate access services. Similarly, competitive access providers, pay telephone operators and cellular telephone companies derive revenue from interstate services and accordingly are carriers required to file both TRS fund and USF worksheets. 1 There are some differences between TRS filers and USF filers. A few carriers, such as purely international carriers and carriers with minimal revenues, are required to file TRS worksheets but need not file USF worksheets. Private carriers and shared tenant service providers are required to file USF worksheets, but not TRS fund worksheets. In addition, some carriers that have filed TRS worksheets in the past have subsequently merged, reorganized, changed name, stopped offering interstate services, etc and so are no longer required to file TRS or USF worksheets. Other carriers that went into business in the first half of 1997 were exempt from filing a 1997 TRS worksheet. A small number of carriers filed USF worksheets but are not yet in compliance with TRS filing requirements. In the TRS and USF worksheets, each carrier has been asked to select a single category that best describes its overall status even though it may provide more than one type of service. The TRS Fund worksheet directs carriers to list themselves in one of the following categories: ! Competitive Access Provider (CAP) or Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) ! Cellular or Personal Communications Services (PCS) Carrier ! Interexchange Carrier ! Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) ! Paging or other Mobile Service Carrier ! Operator Service Provider (OSP) ! Other Toll Service Provider ! Pay Telephone Provider ! Pre-paid Calling Card Provider ! Toll Reseller 2 The USF worksheet uses a similar, but more detailed, classification system, using the following categories: ! Competitive Access Provider (CAP) or Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) ! Cellular, Personal Communications Service (PCS) or Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) service providers (wireless telephony) ! Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) ! Interexchange Carrier (IXC) ! Local Reseller ! Operator Service Provider (OSP) ! Other Local ! Other Mobile Service Carrier including SMRs that do not provide wireless telephony ! Other Toll Service Provider ! Paging and messaging ! Pay Telephone Provider ! Private Service Provider ! Pre-paid Calling Card Provider ! Satellite Service Providers ! Shared Tenant Service Provider ! Toll Reseller ! Wireless Data Service Provider Figure 1 compares both classification systems and presents the number of current interstate service providers using each system. At present, some carriers are not in both the TRS and USF data bases. In such cases, the carriers have been assigned the most similar carrier type code in the alternate system. Some carriers were reclassified following staff research. Table 1 is taken from Telecommunications Industry Revenue: TRS Fund Worksheet Data, November 1997, which provides extensive data about the size and composition of the telecommunications industry. Table 1 is based on data for TRS filers only and thus excludes carriers that filed USF worksheets but not TRS Fund worksheets. The table includes some carriers that filed 1997 TRS worksheets on April 26, 1997, but which have disappeared because of merger, reorganization, name change, or leaving the business. Thus, the counts in Table 1 are different than the counts in Figure 1. 3 Figure 1: Types of Interstate Service Providers TRS Carrier Classification USF Carrier Classification Carrier Number of Carrier Number of Type Carriers Type Carriers Code in Table 2 Code in Table 2 CAP CAPS & CLECs 94 OTHL Other local service provider 13 TENS Shared tenant service provider 4 1 Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) LRES Local reseller 8 and Competitive LECs (CLECs) 119 subtotal 119 2 Cellular, Personal Communications Service (PCS) & Specialized Mobile CEL Cellular, PCS & SMR Radio (SMR) 853 wireless telephony 853 3 Interexchange carrier 149 IXC Interexchange carrier 149 4 Local exchange carrier 1376 LEC Incumbent local exchange carrier 1376 PAG Paging 200 DAT Wireless Data Service Providers 1 OTHM Other mobile service including SMRs that do not provide 5 Paging and other mobile service wireless telephony 163 carriers 364 subtotal 364 6 Operator Service Provider 27 OSP Operator Service Provider 27 SAT Satellite Service Provider 22 OTHT Other Toll 28 7 Other Toll 50 subtotal 50 8 Pay Telephone Provider 533 PAYP Pay Telephone Provider 533 9 Prepaid Calling Card Provider 16 PCCP Prepaid Calling Card Provider 16 10 Toll Reseller 345 TRES Toll Reseller 345 4 Table 2 lists current interstate service providers, the mailing address of their corporate headquarters, their carrier type using both the TRS and USF classification systems, and a telephone number that can be used for customer inquiries. Each legal entity that provides interstate telecommunications service must file a separate TRS worksheet. Thus, over one hundred GTE subsidiaries and affiliates are listed in Table 2.