News media Information 202 / 418-0500 TTY 202 / 418-2555 Fax-On-Demand 202 / 418-2830 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov NEWS ftp.fcc.gov Federal Communications Commission th 445 12 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). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: March 10, 2005 Mark Wigfield 202-418-0253 Email: [email protected] FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION RELEASES TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER LOCATOR Washington D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its annual Telecommunications Provider Locator report. The report lists 5,283 companies registered to provide interstate telecommunications as of October 2004, as compared to 4,748 companies as of October 2003. For each of these providers, the report identifies whether it reported revenue for local, wireless, payphone, operator and prepaid calling card, or other toll services, and whether it contributed to support universal service. The report also provides contact information for each company. This report was compiled using information from FCC Form 499-A Telecommunications Reporting Worksheets filed by telecommunications providers. The filed worksheets are proprietary and therefore not available to the public. The report is available for reference in the FCC's Reference Information Center, Courtyard Level, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. 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 from the FCC- State Link Internet site at www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/locator.html. - FCC - For additional information, contact Kenneth Lynch or Katie Rangos of the Wireline Competition Bureau's Industry Analysis and Technology Division, (202) 418-0940, or for users of TTY equipment, call (202) 418-0484. Telecommunications Provider Locator Industry Analysis & Technology Division Wireline Competition Bureau March 2005 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 FCC-State Link Internet site 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 5,283 telecommunications providers. The last report was released February 17, 2004.1 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 2003, 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 1, 2004, 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 revenues in each category. Wireless telecommunications providers, on the 1 Industry Analysis and Technology Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, Telecommunications Provider Locator (rel. February 17, 2004). 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 revenues 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 7 of FCC Form 499-A with the data collection agent (see 47 C.F.R. § 64.1195). 1 other hand, were included in the local / long distance category if, at the holding-company level, at least 10% of end-user telecommunications revenues were interstate. Because of the way their revenues were 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 recent changes to the Commission’s rules regarding the filing of FCC Form 499-A. Until recently, 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 31 consolidated filings, covering 462 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 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 categories, filers can derive revenues from the following specific services: local, mobile, payphone, operator services and prepaid calling cards, and/or other toll services. Since many filers report revenues 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 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 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,