Carrier Locator: Interstate Service Providers

[Pages:142]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 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

Carrier Type Code

TRS Carrier Classification

1 Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) and Competitive LECs (CLECs)

USF Carrier Classification

Number of Carriers in Table 2

Carrier Type Code

Number of Carriers in Table 2

CAP CAPS & CLECs

94

OTHL Other local service provider

13

TENS Shared tenant service provider

4

LRES Local reseller

8

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

5 Paging and other mobile service carriers

PAG Paging

200

DAT Wireless Data Service Providers

1

OTHM Other mobile service including

SMRs that do not provide

wireless telephony

163

364

subtotal

364

6 Operator Service Provider

27 OSP Operator Service Provider

27

7 Other Toll

SAT Satellite Service Provider

22

OTHT Other Toll

28

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. Many GTE companies operate as GTE Mobilenet but have dissimilar legal names, such as Florida #1B RSA Limited Partnership. Carriers were instructed to provide both their legal name and the principal name under which they conduct carrier activities. The carrier listings have been sorted alphabetically by the name under which the carriers do business. Where several subsidiaries use the same operating name, that name is listed first and the legal names are indented and shown below. Sometimes unaffiliated carriers operate using the same trade name -- for example, many unaffiliated cellular service carriers operate as Cellular One.

The TRS and USF rules require Administrators to keep confidential all revenue information contained in the TRS and USF worksheets. Many carriers have also requested that the reported revenue amounts be accorded proprietary treatment. Consequently, the amount of revenue reported by each carrier for 1996 is not published. Table 3, however, does show the types of revenue reported by each carrier in their 1997 TRS fund worksheets. Unlike Table 2, carriers are grouped by type of carrier in Table 3. The sequence number from Table 2 is shown in Table 3 to permit cross-referencing. Table 3 also shows the TRS Fund registration number of each carrier. This number was assigned by the TRS Fund Administrator and is also used for USF worksheets and regulatory fees. No revenue types are shown for carriers that filed USF worksheets but not TRS worksheets because the USF worksheet uses different revenue categories.

There is substantial turnover in the telecommunications industry as companies form, merge, change ownership, reorganize, change name, or leave the industry. GTE, for example, both added and sold subsidiaries in 1996. Table 4 shows about 200 carriers that are not expected to file worksheets in the future. In most cases, a successor company is included in Table 2. Table 5 shows about 80 carriers that filed TRS fund worksheets in 1995 or 1996, but not in 1997, as of publication time. The reasons why these carriers did not file are unclear and many may be out of business. Others of these companies may not be in compliance with filing requirements.

Table 2 contains 587 carriers identifying themselves as interexchange carriers, operator service providers, toll resellers, pre-paid calling card providers or other toll service providers. Other lists of carriers, such as carriers with presubscribed lines or carriers taking equal access, show over 600 toll carriers. While some of the differences may result from differing definitions, it is likely that some toll carriers have not yet filed worksheets as required.

5

It may be difficult to locate a particular carrier in the tables. Some carriers use more than one name, use a trade name that is different than their legal name, or may be associated with a holding company with yet another name. The TRS Fund and USF worksheets request that carriers file their legal name, the name of any affiliated holding company, and also the predominant name under which they provide carrier service. All of the information contained in the attached tables, as well as all names provided on the worksheets, are included in a single LOTUS spreadsheet that can be downloaded from the FCC-State Link internet site and computer bulletin board.

The information contained in the tables reflects the information reported by the carriers. Aside from annual regulatory fee payments, the TRS Fund and USF worksheets are the only annual FCC filing requirement for most carriers. Some carriers, however, may not yet realize that they are obligated to file. Some carriers that filed worksheets may have misunderstood instructions. For example, many carriers report interstate access revenues even though they are not local exchange carriers and do not provide interstate access services. Some carriers report all revenues in the "other" category. Thus, the information shown in the tables may not be completely accurate. Please contact the TRS Fund Administrator, NECA, at 201-884-8173 to make corrections or to identify carriers that did not file, but should have done so.

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