WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission postponed a vote set for last Thursday on a consumer bill of rights for telecom users, rescheduling it for Oct. 2.
The request to withhold action on the plan-which the mobile-phone industry strongly opposes and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to derail-was made by the PUC’s Administrative Law Judges Division.
Last Tuesday, Commissioners Geoffrey Brown and Susan Kennedy met with stakeholders for the second time in two weeks to discuss the July 24 revised draft decision, written by Commissioner Carl Wood.
A PUC spokeswoman last week initially said there would be no more meetings with industry lobbyists and consumer advocates. But on Friday, the commission announced that a third all-parties meeting with commissioners Brown and Kennedy has been set for Sept. 24 in San Francisco.
The new consumer protection rules under consideration by California regulators apply to carrier disclosure; marketing practices; service initiation and changes; prepaid calling cards and services; deposits to establish or re-establish service; billing; late-payment penalties, back billing and pro-rating; tariff changes, contract changes and transfers; service termination; billing disputes; and privacy.
Last Monday, California mobile-phone operators asked the PUC to accept two new studies claiming the consumer bill of rights would increase subscriber bills by nearly $4 a month and result in a loss of 11,500 jobs in the state. One study said new rules, if approved, would cost wireless carriers in the state about $300 million in one-time set up costs and more than $700 million in annual recurring costs.
The two studies-conducted by the Law & Economic Consulting Group L.L.C for cellular carriers in California-update data included in a study it issued in February and analyze the broader economic impact of proposed PUC rules on California’s economy.
“Given the potential magnitude of these new and untested regulations, Californians deserve a careful and even-handed analysis of the proposed rules that ensures that any regulations, if adopted, will on balance serve the public interest,” California mobile-phone operators told the PUC.
