Audit of the Department of Telecommunications and Cable

This is a state performance audit of the Department of Telecommunications and Cable covering January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Department of Telecommunications and Cable (DTC) for the period January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020.”

Auditors checked whether DTC properly handled its role in reviewing enhanced 911 funding rules and budget proceedings.

“Specifically, we determined whether DTC adequately adopted rules for funding prudently incurred expenses associated with enhanced 911 services1 and programs of the State 911 Department.”

This matters because the surcharge helps pay for enhanced 911 services and keep money available for unexpected costs.

“The purpose of the surcharge is to recover prudently incurred costs associated with providing E911 services and to provide the E911 Fund with adequate reserves to cover any unanticipated costs.”

If you use communication services, this affects a surcharge that may appear on your bill for enhanced 911 and disability access services.

“The surcharge shall be collected by the communication service provider and shall be shown on the subscriber’s or end user’s bill as ‘‘Disability Access/Enhanced 911 Service Surcharge’’, or an appropriate abbreviation.”

The audit did not find reportable problems with DTC’s compliance.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

The report does not list corrective actions; DTC continues its role of reviewing the surcharge and State 911 Department expenses when required.

“DTC’s role is to set the surcharge amount and investigate the prudence and reasonableness of the State 911 Department’s projected revenue and expenses.”

The audit concluded that DTC met both audit objectives: adopting rules for prudent expenses and conducting budget proceedings under the required laws and regulations.

“We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.”

“Enhanced 911” means 911 service that can route calls to the right emergency answering point and provide caller number and location information.

“According to Section 18A of Chapter 6A of the General Laws, an enhanced 911 service is “a service consisting of communication network, database and equipment features provided for subscribers or end users of communication services enabling such subscribers or end users to reach a [public safety answering point] by dialing the digits 911, or by other means approved by the [State 911] department, that directs calls to appropriate [public safety answering points] based on selective routing and provides the capability for automatic number identification and automatic location identification.””