WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission, facing heavy pressure from mobile-phone carriers with generous funding support from their national trade association, last week sent fresh signals that it may postpone a scheduled Sept. 18 vote on a proposed telecom consumer bill of rights.
Last Wednesday, the day before reply comments on the bill-of-rights proceeding were due, stakeholders were notified of an all-party meeting Tuesday morning with Commissioners Geoffrey Brown and Susan Kennedy Sept. 9. The meeting is expected to last two hours.
“The commission’s wish is to review with parties each proposed rule. A second all-party meeting may be scheduled if necessary,” the notice stated.
The Sept. 9 all-party meeting with the two California PUC commissioners in San Francisco takes place the same day the mobile-phone industry plans to unveil a voluntary code of conduct for wireless carriers in the nation’s capital.
“If they are holding meetings on the scope of the rules at this stage of the game, it’s hard to imagine the commission would actually be prepared to vote on it Sept. 18,” said Michael Day, a lawyer at a San Francisco law firm that represents the Cellular Carriers Association of California.
Day said a second meeting might be necessary because it would be difficult to address issues of the more than two-dozen parties seeking changes to a draft decision issued in July by Commissioner Carl Wood.
“It’s hard to imagine that it’s really ready for prime time,” said Day.
As a general matter, a delay in a vote requested by a commissioner is typically honored by the PUC.
It is not necessarily a coincidence that the mobile-phone industry chose to announce its code of conduct only a week before the Sept. 18 bill-of-rights vote by the California PUC.
Mobile-phone carriers are attempting to use the code of conduct to leverage concessions from the California PUC, not to mention state attorneys general who are contemplating consumer litigation action against the mobile-phone industry.
“In order to ensure that consumers of wireless service are secure in basic protections, the wireless industry has created a code of conduct which achieves goals comparable to those contained in the proposed rules, but does so in a manner which is tailored to the wireless industry, which is uniform nationwide, and which appropriately avoids the micro-management of carriers’ activities,” the CCAC told California regulators. “The commission should endorse this code of conduct as appropriate for the wireless industry and forebear from further regulation of the industry at this time.”
But groups like Consumers Union and Utility Consumers Action Network are not buying it, ripping into the code of conduct even before industry puts it on display on Tuesday.
“CU and UCAN appreciate the gumption required by the industry to finally acknowledge some concerted action is necessary to protect consumer rights. It is regrettable that the code offered by the wireless industry is so thoroughly compromised by ambiguous and equivocal language lacking in any enforceability. It is also notable that the code effectively endorses all existing practices by wireless carriers and paves no new ground or offers no new protection to consumers,” stated the organizations.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association may not be visible in the fierce debate thousands of miles away from its headquarters here, but its influence is being felt.
California lobbying records show CTIA spent nearly $200,000 on the PUC bill of rights and other matters in the state during the first six months of this year. The funds have gone to hire high-powered lobbyists and lawyers on the ground in California.
CTIA’s major investment in California signifies a marked strategic shift by a trade group that not long ago had a policy of not meddling in state affairs. The explosion of consumer lawsuits combined with state attorneys general investigations and increased state regulatory oversight have forced CTIA to venture outside the Beltway.
The voluntary code of conduct the mobile-phone industry unveils tomorrow calls on wireless carriers to make more information available to consumers on everything from advertising to coverage maps to monthly bills. The industry also will agree to give subscribers the opportunity to trial service and terminate service contracts under certain circumstances.
Some mobile-phone carriers already have begun to implement some of the reforms.
The cell-phone industry has experienced phenomenal growth, signing up 150 million subscribers in its first two decades. The consumer backlash facing carriers today represents a new challenge for industry.
The new code of conduct is the biggest step by industry to date to address a huge image problem some carriers are expected to exploit when a federal rule goes into effect on Nov. 24 allowing subscribers to keep their telephone number when they change wireless carriers.
The six national mobile-phone operators have signed on to the plan. It remains to be seen, however, whether industry’s move will help fend off members of Congress, state regulators and trial lawyers. The provisions of the voluntary code of conduct are not enforceable.
Under the code of conduct, wireless carriers have promised to:
c Disclose rates and terms of service to consumers.
c Make available maps showing where service is generally available.
c Provide contract terms to customers and confirm changes in service.
c Allow a trial period for new service.
c Provide specific disclosures in advertising.
c Separately identify carrier charges from taxes on billing statements.
c Provide customers the right to terminate service for changes to contract terms.
c Provide ready access to customer service.
c Promptly respond to consumer inquiries and complaints received from government agencies.
c Abide by policies to protect customer privacy.
