Consumer Groups Warn CPUC Not to Change Mind on SMS Surcharges
Ending California surcharges on text-message revenue for state USF and other public purpose programs isn’t supported by the record and would be “an error of both fact and law,” said the Center for Accessible Technology, Greenlining Institute and The Utility…
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Reform Network in comments posted Monday in docket R17-06-023 at the California Public Utilities Commission. Commissioners may vote Jan. 31 on ending surcharges after an FCC order persuaded state commissioners not to pull back an earlier proposal to affirm text messaging is subject to the surcharges (see 1812170029). The new proposal doesn’t analyze the FCC ruling “in detail, nor does it explain how the FCC’s actions directly impact the Commission’s decades-long practice of collecting this surcharge,” the consumer groups said. All the CPUC needs to do is address the impact of the FCC ruling, commented the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. “It is not necessary or reasonable ... to address or analyze state laws relating primarily to the Commission’s general authority and to public purpose program requirements.”