Any intermediate provider that offers or holds itself out as offering the capability to transmit covered voice communications from one destination to another and that charges any rate to any other entity (including an affiliated entity) for the transmission must abide by the following service quality standards:

(a) Duty to complete calls. Intermediate providers must take steps reasonably calculated to ensure that all covered voice communications that traverse their networks are delivered to their destination. An intermediate provider may violate this duty to complete calls if it knows, or should know, that calls are not being completed to certain areas, and it engages in acts or omissions that allow, or effectively allow, these conditions to persist.

(b) Rural call completion performance monitoring. For each intermediate provider with which it contracts, an intermediate provider shall:

(1) Monitor the intermediate provider's performance in the completion of call attempts to rural telephone companies; and

(2) Based on the results of such monitoring, take steps that are reasonably calculated to correct any identified performance problem with the intermediate provider, including removing that provider for sustained poor performance.

(c) Registration of subsequent intermediate providers. Intermediate providers shall ensure that any additional intermediate providers to which they hand off calls are registered with the Commission pursuant to §64.2115.

[84 FR 25706, June 4, 2019]