Wireless Wave: Where does the responsibility for educating consumers fit into your plan?
Commissioner Chong: We think it’s a critically important role for the CPUC. That’s why we launched a new web site, www.calphoneinfo.com, in late June. It’s full of all kinds of useful consumer information about phone service. We collabo-rated with consumer groups, community based organizations, and the telecommunica-tions industry itself to produce easy to understand brochures dealing with a con-sumer topics, like shopping for wireless service, how to understand your phone bill, or what do you if you’ve been “slammed” or “crammed.”
That information will be available on the website in 13 different languages, and we plan on adding new information. It’s all about giving people the knowledge they need to be smarter consumers.
Wireless Wave: That’s quite an effort.
Commissioner Chong: And it doesn’t stop there. We’re also stepping up our enforcement efforts at the CPUC. We are forming a new telecom fraud unit, so if it looks like there is a bad actor taking advantage of people or breaking the law by slamming or cramming, we will have a new group in our enforcement department quickly taking action in coordina-tion with the district attorneys’ and state Attorney General’s offices. We are also coordi-nating with the FCC and the FTC to explore how to work together more effectively on enforcement issues.
Wireless Wave: Recognizing the power of states’ Attorneys General to enforce their laws of general applicability is related to what’s being discussed on Capitol Hill in the Senate Communications Bill. How do you feel about that aspect of the bill?
Commissioner Chong: The Senate provi-sion reaffirms the power of the state attorneys general to enforce their general business laws and that’s pro consumer. On a related issue, part of the challenge for our PUC enforcement staff is understanding what the AG’s or district attorneys’ offices need in terms of investiga-tory information so that our staff can build a case against a bad actor.
Wireless Wave: Of course, establishing national consumer protection standards is a major piece of the Senate legislation. What are your thoughts about that?
Commissioner Chong: As a former FCC commissioner who watched over the nation’s telecom players, I can understand why the wireless industry wants relief in some form. There are times when the states will pick an issue… say, for instance, its early termination fees (ETFs). Different states have different ways of regulating ETFs, and this is frustrating for the carriers to have multiple layers of reg-ulation. Is an ETF a “rate” or is it a “term and condition”? Different regulation by different states is a burden on multi-state wireless car-riers. At the end of the day, that kind of patchwork quilt activity of state regulations increases their business costs and ultimately, consumers pay for that.
Now, I know a lot of state regulators have problems with this provision, and I’m also sympathetic to states’ concerns about the consumer complaint aspect of the relationship between the wireless carrier and the con-sumer. We want to help people solve their problems, and if troubles aren’t settled with the carrier directly, I think consumers need a place to go that’s a little closer to home than Washington, D.C.
