WASHINGTON-Alltel Corp. agreed to contribute $100,000 to the U.S. Treasury, but did not admit it violated a Federal Communications Commission rule that requires carriers to prove they are protecting customers’ call records.
The FCC proposed fining Alltel in January after the carrier did not file the proper certification paperwork that detailed how it was protecting call records. The government said Alltel failed to include documentation that an officer of the company had personal knowledge that Alltel had procedures in place to ensure compliance with customer proprietary network information rules. As such, the commission proposed a $100,000 fine against the Little Rock, Ark.-based carrier.
“This resolves the issue fully and finally. You’ll recall this relates to a technical violation when the proper officer did not sign the original certification we filed earlier this year,” said Andrew Moreau, Alltel spokesman.
In the consent decree, Alltel does not admit any wrongdoing and Alltel since has filed the necessary certification. The FCC also prohibited Alltel from using any of the information in the future.
Each year carriers must certify that they are protecting customer information. The issue came to a head earlier this year after media outlets reported that cell-phone and other telecom records were being sold on the Internet by third parties who were accessing the information by pretending they were the customer.
The FCC also proposed a similar fine against AT&T Inc. AT&T last month agreed to pay $550,000 to conclude the CPNI issue and an ongoing investigation regarding SBC Communication Inc.’s opt-out policy. SBC last year acquired AT&T Corp. and took on the AT&T name.
As part of that consent decree, AT&T agreed to implement a CPNI compliance plan and to revise its opt-out procedures. Under FCC rules, a customer can opt out of having their information shared. SBC had told the FCC in July 2005 that its opt-out procedures were deficient.
“A consumer’s telephone call records include some of the most private personal information about an individual. Access to telephone records can show who people are calling and for how long. For all practical purposes, it is like picking someone’s brain about their friends, plans or business dealings,” said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
