Telecommunications Provider Locator
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Telecommunications Provider Locator Industry Analysis & Technology Division Wireline Competition Bureau February 2003 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 calling Qualex International, Portals II, 445 12th Street SW, Room CY- B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, telephone 202-863-2893, facsimile 202-863-2898, or via e-mail [email protected]. This report can be downloaded and interactively searched on the FCC-State Link Internet site at www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/locator.html. Telecommunications Provider Locator This report lists the contact information and the types of services sold by 5,364 telecommunications providers. The last report was released November 27, 2001.1 All information in this report is drawn from providers’ April 1, 2002, filing of the Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet (FCC Form 499-A).2 This report 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.3 These forms are not filed with the FCC but rather with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which serves as the data collection agent. Information from filings received after November 22, 2002, and from filings that were incomplete has been excluded from the tables. 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 single category that best describes 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. Comparisons of the number of filers in Table 1 over time would not be meaningful due to recent changes to the Commission’s rules regarding the filing of Form 499-A. Until recently, a 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 for certain telecommunications providers to file summary 1 Industry Analysis Division, Common Carrier Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, Telecommunications Provider Locator (rel. November 27, 2001). 2 FCC Form 499-A Telecommunications Reporting Worksheets were due April 1, 2002, but some providers filed late or updated their filing after that date. By November 22, 2002, the database contained contact information and revenue data from 5,364 filers. 3 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 revenues from the resale of telecommunications and entities that provide services only to themselves or to commonly-owned affiliates need not file. 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- 1 worksheets that cover related legal entities. Therefore, changes in the number of filers over time could be attributed to consolidated filing as well as other factors. Table 2 shows the number of filers that reported revenues in each of ten broad service categories. Generally, revenues are 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 areas, filers can derive revenues from the following specific services: local, mobile, payphone, operator services and prepaid calling cards, and/or other toll. Since many filers report revenues from the provision of more than one service, the sum of the numbers 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 revenues 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 only 2,340 of the 5,364 filers actually contribute to the universal service fund is that no contribution is required if a filer’s 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.5 In addition, Table 2 indicates whether filers are active or inactive. The universe of Form 499-A filers includes not only those entities that provided telecommunications during the year 2001, but also new companies fulfilling their registration requirement.6 Of those filers that declared some revenue in 2001, those not known to have merged, declared bankruptcy, or ceased operation for some other reason by November 22, 2002 are listed as active. Newly registered filers are also listed as active, although they generally have no revenue to report. (Continued from previous page) 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 Contributions to North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), Local Number Portability (LNP), and Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) are required regardless of the expected annual amount. There is no de minimis exemption. Note also that NANPA, LNP, and TRS each draw contributions from a larger pool of providers than does universal service. Specifically, all telecommunications carriers in the United States must contribute to meet the costs of NANPA (47 C.F.R. §52.17), and all telecommunications carriers that provide service in areas covered by the regional LNP database must contribute to meet the costs of LNP (47 C.F.R. §52.32). Thus, only those providers that are not carriers are not required to contribute. Cost recovery for TRS is slightly different. Every carrier providing interstate services must contribute to the TRS Fund (47 C.F.R. §64.604(c)(5)(iii)(A)). In this case, providers that are not carriers, and carriers that do not provide interstate services are not required to contribute. See Figure 3 of the Instructions to the Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet, FCC Form 499-A for more details. 6 A telecommunications carrier intending to provide interstate telecommunications service can fulfill its registration requirement by filing pages 1, 2, 3, and 7 of FCC Form 499-A with the data collection agent (see 47 C.F.R. §64.1195). 2 Table 3 lists each of the 5,364 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. This table also shows for each filer the specific services from which they derive revenues: local, mobile, payphone, operator services and prepaid calling cards, and/or other toll. It is important to note that some revenue flags in Table 3 have been suppressed to maintain confidentiality. For this reason, the sum of the flags in Table 3 may not equal the totals presented in Table 2. Finally, the table shows whether a filer currently contributes to the universal service support mechanism and whether the filer was active as of November 22, 2002. Table 3 is available in Microsoft Excel 2002 format from the FCC-State Link Internet website www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/locator.html. This website also contains a link to an interactive online tool that can be used to search the public data from FCC Form 499-A filings. Note that the information in Table 3 reflects the information reported by filers, with some corrections made by the FCC Form 499-A data collection agent and by FCC staff. Please contact the data collection agent at (973) 560-4460 or [email protected] to suggest corrections or to identify telecommunications providers that neglected to file. 3 Table 1