The size of a proposed fine against T-Mobile for falling...
The size of a proposed fine against T-Mobile for falling short of meeting FCC hearing-aid compatibility rules (CD April 17 p8), approaching $1 million, appears meant to send a clear message, Fletcher Heald lawyer Donald Evans said on the firm’s…
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CommLaw blog. “Although the FCC points out that T-Mobile had revenues of over $21 billion in the years in question, a fine this size might be enough to get someone’s attention,” he wrote (http://xrl.us/bm37s8). Evans said the commission used a new calculation method for arriving at the size of the fine. Previously, the FCC relied on a “highest handset shortfall formula,” under which a carrier was assessed a $15,000 fine “for each handset it was short in the month of the year in which it fell the furthest short,” he said. T-Mobile would have faced only a $165,000 fine under the previous approach. “Under the new policy, you can be fined for being short a handset in every month of the year,” Evans noted. “The shortfalls each month are added together to calculate the total. Accordingly, since T-Mobile was apparently short seven handsets in November and December of 2009 and 45 handsets through August of 2010, its base penalty was $780,000 (i.e., 52 handsets short x $15K per handset short). The FCC then adjusted that amount upward by $39,000 to take into account T-Mobile’s size, but mitigated that increase to reflect the fact that it had cooperated in the investigation.”