The FCC asked for comments on whether it should impose mandatory ...
The FCC asked for comments on whether it should impose mandatory minimum information sharing requirements on all local and long distance telephone companies “to increase the accuracy of billing information and decrease consumers’ complaints.” The item was removed from…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
the agenda for the Thurs. agenda meeting after the Commission voted on it late Wed. The action followed the 2 petitions filed by Americatel, and AT&T, Sprint and MCI (jointly) in 2002, asking that the Commission make changes to the Customer Account Record Exchange (CARE) system to reflect changes in the marketplace. The CARE system, adopted by the industry after the AT&T break-up, is the voluntary industry standard for exchanging the customer information needed to set up and maintain customer accounts, and to execute customer orders and transfers between long distance carriers. Historically, under such a system, local phone companies provided CARE data to the appropriate long distance carriers every time customers changed long distance companies or billing, name or address information, to ensure seamless provision of service. However, the Commission said since the Telecom Act was passed in 1996, “the increasing number of customers switching local phone companies has affected the ability of long distance carriers to bill for long distance services rendered to those customers… CARE data are not currently exchanged in a uniform manner now that the number of local phone companies has increased significantly,” often leaving long distance companies “in the dark as to whether a customer remains on the network.” The agency said the issues raised in the petitions “would be more appropriately addressed through a notice and comment rulemaking proceeding than by an immediate ruling on the petitions.” The FCC asked for comments on: (1) “Whether imposing mandatory minimum CARE standards on all local and interexchange carriers could provide consistency within the industry and eliminate a significant percentage of consumers complaints” about billing errors. (2) “How extensive the billing problems described in the petitions are, and whether they are sufficiently pervasive throughout the industry to warrant regulatory intervention at this time.” (3) “Whether these billing problems may also arise in the context of wireline-to-wireless number porting, and on proposals for addressing any such issues in wireline-to- wireless number porting situations.” The agency said it believed that “a uniform process observed by all regulated entities… could provide a better framework for fair and consistent enforcement activity by the Commission.”