WASHINGTON-The National Taxpayers Union today urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject a proposal to prohibit mobile-phone operators from adding regulatory recovery fees or other surcharges to consumer bills.
The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates argues such fees should be banned unless they have been expressly mandated by a regulatory agency. The FCC is expected to rule on NASUCA’s petition next Thursday at an open meeting.
“Besides wreaking havoc on a wireless service provider’s ability to offer mutually beneficial package plans, consumers will be left in the dark as to what costs they are ultimately being forced to bear by their elected officials. Consumers benefit from transparency not misguided attempts to ‘dumb-down’ their bills, “said NTU in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell and other commissioners.
NTU said there is no need to solve a problem that does not exist, pointing to FCC data indicating that wireless billing-related complaints in the first and second quarters of this year amounted to 0.0022 percent of total U.S. cell-phone users-or 22 per million.
“NASUCA and other like-minded groups should stick to providing consumers with information on how to read their bills and shop for service,” said NTU. “If they really want to help consumers, they should set ideology aside and work instead to roll back burdensome taxes and regulations on wireless service providers.”
