WASHINGTON-The paging industry’s battle against pay-phone deregulation has picked up support from an unlikely source in Congress.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a leading opponent of federal pre-emption of local antenna-siting regulation, has introduced legislation to force pay-phone operators to make change for calls costing more than 10 cents or else credit states the amount of unpaid change to help fund pay phones of benefit to safety, public health, emergency services and education.
“For millions of Americans, pay phones are a necessity,” said Leahy. “For millions more they are an important convenience. No customer should be fleeced, if we can do something about it. And we will.”
The Federal Communications Commission last fall began assessing a 28.4-cent charge per call against owners of toll-free 800 and 888 telephone numbers, like those that are common in the paging industry.
The paging industry favors a calling-party-pays approach, but if that cannot be achieved, it wants the 28.4-cent charge lowered to reflect the brief time it takes to send a page via a toll-free telephone number.
While the paging industry faces a different problem stemming from pay-phone deregulation, Leahy’s bill and his stature in Congress could help the paging industry gain some leverage on its issue.
“During the six months since the FCC’s deregulation order took effect, consumers have been saddled with pay phones that cost more and keep the change without the improvements in service and availability promised by the FCC,” said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst with the Consumer Union’s southwest regional office in Texas.
“We believe the FCC’s deregulation order was just plain wrong,” Briesemeister added.
