Communications

CFA Comments on Preventing Fraudulent Third Party Charges on Consumers’ Phone Bills

In response to the Cramming NPRM, the Commission received initial comments from a wide range of consumer and public interest groups, federal and state law enforcement agencies, public utility advocates, third-party service providers, billing aggregators, local exchange carriers (LEC’s) and wireless carriers. Among virtually all commenters there was overwhelming consensus that cramming is a problem that deserves the Commission’s attention. However, there was a clear demarcation as to what the Commission should do to address the issue. On one side, consumer and public interest groups, state attorneys general, utility consumer advocates and the Federal Trade Commission urged the Commission to adopt its proposed rules at the very least, and strongly consider more aggressive action such as banning wireline third-party billing. On the other side, the various participants in the third-party billing ecosystem – LEC’s, wireless carriers, third-party service providers and billing aggregators – urged the FCC to allow the status quo to endure or, at the very least, allow industry participants the flexibility to address cramming through light-touch regulation.