The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a fine of $6,000 against...
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a fine of $6,000 against the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA) for “willfully and repeatedly” violating the hearing aid compatibility status report filing requirements in the commission’s 2003 Hearing Aid Compatibility Order between May 2004…
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and November 2007. ASTCA had asked that the fine be reduced or cancelled, the order said (http://xrl.us/bnvh7p). “Specifically, ASTCA argues that because of the physical distance between American Samoa and Washington D.C., ASTCA was unfamiliar with the 2003 Hearing Aid Compatibility Order and its subsequent amendments,” the bureau said. “Licensees, however, are expected to know and comply with the Rules, regardless of their geographic distance from the FCC’s headquarters.” ASTCA had also argued that it cooperated with the bureau’s investigation and should be credited with doing so, the bureau said. “While ASTCA states that it filed the information required in its November 19, 2007, report on May 9, 2008, it did so more than five months after the filing deadline and only in response to the initiation of our investigation,” the order said. “Although we have adjusted forfeitures downward when a licensee makes voluntary disclosures to Commission staff and takes corrective measures after discovering its violations and prior to any Commission inquiry or initiation of enforcement action, we have not reduced forfeitures based on a licensee’s remedial conduct after the initiation of an investigation."