Transparency for All Communications Services Becoming Top FCC Priority, Gurin Says

"We're taking this basic concept that people need to have clear and accurate bills … and saying, you know, this doesn’t just relate to telephone services, it relates to wireline broadband, cable, satellite, all communications services,” Gurin said. “It’s also not just about billing. You need information when you're choosing a provider, you need information when you choosing a plan, as well as when you're reading your bill and you're considering whether or not you want to switch providers.”

Gurin sounded a warning to carriers that the FCC will focus on “baseline protections” for consumers and “bill-shock” protections are likely to be expanded beyond wireless. The FCC has found that communications companies are taking steps to protect consumers, he said. “But we also found that there really is not the consistency and clarity that we think is really important so that every consumer of any service from any carrier will have some basic guarantee that they will get a heads up before they run into significant issues with their bills."

There’s a growing “consumer consciousness throughout the agency,” Gurin said. All the commission’s bureaus and offices are “much more aware of consumer issues than they have been at any point at least in the FCC’s recent history,” he said.

The FCC is updating how it handles complaints, Gurin said. Most complaints come in by e-mail, he said. Until recently, the FCC had to process e-mail complaints, log them in to the system and write a letter in response. “We're not going to do that anymore, since that was kind of the ultimate example of an inappropriate use of technology … obsolete use of technology."

The committee approved a letter to Chairman Julius Genachowski praising the FCC’s work on bill shock and other consumer issues.

"Your impact I think has been felt,” Commissioner Michael Copps told the committee. “It has made a difference. We still have a long way to go in turning this place into a consumer protection agency once again. But I think we have made real strides in the last year in getting us back to what we were supposed to be all along and that is a consumer protection agency.” Consumer protection cuts across political lines, Copps added. “I think we have a charge,” he said. “I think Republicans and Democrats -- citizens of this country -- they're all consumers. They're all looking for consumer protection."

The committee approved a letter asking the FCC to investigate procedures for federal-state collaboration on consumer issues and to create a list of contacts at both levels for consumers. It also asked the commission to consider a proposal by Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Anne Boyle that the FCC work with her state on a pilot project aimed at improving coordination.

Claude Stout, a committee member representing the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network, said states vary widely in how well they address complaints. “There are some states that are not as effective as we would like them to be,” he said. “With Internet relay services, they are handled at the federal level and it works best for us when it’s handled that way, because when it’s a national level service, then there is consistency and uniformity and everyone across the nation can benefit."

Research is critical, said Lawrence Daniels, who represents the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates on the committee. “Right now we don’t have any details on the specifics … in terms of the states’ jurisdiction over particular services,” he said.

Copps said Congress had better state-federal cooperation in mind when it approved the Telecom Act in 1996. “We haven’t always achieved that,” he said. “I think we really need to get this straightened out so we have a seamless system of communications and communications oversight as we go into the digital age.”

Gurin said the Nebraska proposal is “very provocative” but “needs a little more thought and a little more study."

The committee heard a presentation Wednesday from Geoff Blackwell, chief of the FCC’s new Office on Native Affairs and Policy. “It’s been said many times ‘never again will native matters, will tribal matters be an after thought,'” he said. “I can absolutely assure you that that’s the case.” Blackwell said he has spent more than a month in the field meeting with tribal officials. “The challenges are many,” he said. “There is a great dedication right now in Indian Country to making sure that the digital divide is closed.”

Gurin also stressed the FCC’s increased focus on communications in Indian Country. The FCC used to handle Indian issues through one tribal liaison, he said. Blackwell has three senior FCC staff on board and will add several soon, he said. “We've taken it from being a one-person operation to being a real, full-scale office focused on issues facing Native Americans,” Gurin said.

Gurin said broadband penetration in Indian Country remains so low that it cannot be measured accurately. “Our best estimate is that it is about 8 percent, compared to something like 65-plus percent, 70 percent nationally.”