WASHINGTON-A consumer group says the $12 million fine imposed on Cingular Wireless L.L.C. by the California Public Utilities Commission is inadequate, while other mobile-phone carriers in the state worry they could be next.
The Utility Consumers’ Action Network said Cingular Wireless should be fined at least $1.2 million more for violating state laws and should make additional concessions to mobile-phone subscribers.
“The [decision’s] greatest deficiency is that it fails to take the necessary step that the evidence demands and find that Cingular has committed multiple and ongoing violations of commission law. In fact, by detailing the evidence against Cingular, then failing to find that evidence constitutes a violation, the [decision] may be giving Cingular and other telephone companies the green light to continue fundamentally unfair practices,” UCAN told California regulators.
Last month, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Jean Vieth slapped Cingular Wireless with a $12 million fine after finding fault with various business practices of the carrier, including the imposition of early termination fees and encouraging consumers to sign contracts while not disclosing operational problems to the public.
Cingular Wireless has appealed Vieth’s ruling, claiming it broke no rules and that its network quality and disclosures do not differ from other mobile-phone operators in California.
The CPUC fine has put California carriers-which compete with Cingular Wireless-in a precarious position. The carriers do not necessarily want to bail out Cingular, but they fear a precedent could be set if the record fine stands.
The California Cellular Carriers Association told the CPUC “it is very concerned about critical legal and policy errors in the [decision] that potentially impact all wireless carriers, and indeed all utilities, subject to the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission.”
In fact, the state’s top landline telephone company-SBC Communications Inc.-and California’s gas and electric utilities filed a brief with the CPUC, asking regulators to modify the Cingular decision such that “no utility can be subjected to penalties for engaging in behavior that it had no reason to believe at the time was prohibited.”
Oral argument on the appeal is scheduled for Dec. 8 at the CPUC.
Meantime, the mobile-phone industry is battling to sidetrack a proposed bill of rights for telecom consumers that California regulators are wrestling with and could vote on next month.
