Carriers Strongly Oppose ‘Opt-In’ Mandate for CPNI Sharing
Wireline and wireless carriers want the FCC to step away from proposed rules that would block carriers from sharing customer proprietary network information (CPNI) with vendors handling billing and marketing. Chmn. Martin told reporters last week that CPNI rules he has circulated would limit sharing of data among carriers and partners in joint ventures as well as independent contractors (CD Jan 18 p4). Under the revised rules, customers would have to “opt in” before private information could be shared.
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Commissioners’ offices are studying the CPNI item, which Martin began circulating late in Dec. One focus is narrowing the opt-in restriction, for example, so it doesn’t apply to so-called “detail” material the FCC most wants to protect - phone numbers a customer called and the accompanying names.
“Carriers are concerned and troubled about going from opt-out to opt-in,” a wireless industry source said: “It’s a major change in a business practice that’s been established for sometime and this would be very difficult and time consuming to go out and get opt in consent.” Focus on an opt-in mandate goes beyond FCC’s original probe of CPNI abuses, the source said: “Whatever the benefits of opt-in versus opt-out may be, that change doesn’t address any of the issues that the Commission was supposed to address.”
“The concern is that the marketing operations of the carriers are not in-house - they're done through independent contractors,” another source said: “It makes sense just in terms of efficiency and costs to take those outside of the carriers and put them in the hands of the real experts.” Opt-in requirements would boost carrier costs and the changes they would demand would disrupt carrier operations, the source said, adding that, in proposing the rule, the FCC may not have anticipated the extent to which carriers farm out key tasks.
In recent weeks carriers have been lobbying the FCC, urging caution. An opt-in mandate would have “a significant effect on many USTelecom members who use independent contractors and joint venture partners for marketing purposes,” USTelecom said in a filing.
Sprint Nextel told the FCC the record in the proceeding is “devoid of evidence” that an opt-in requirement would foil pretexting. “Security measures, and not a customer opt-in requirement, are the most effective and cost-beneficial way to advance the government’s interest in preventing unauthorized access to CPNI,” Sprint said.