WASHINGTON-A state appeals court has agreed to review a record $12 million fine levied by California regulators against Cingular Wireless L.L.C. in 2004. "Cingular is encouraged to hear that the California Court of Appeal has agreed to hear our case," said a Cingular spokesperson....
WASHINGTON-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger officially named former federal telecom regulator Rachelle Chong to the California Public Utilities Commission. "Rachelle's more than two decades of experience in telecommunications law in conjunction with her exceptional understanding of the regulatory environment will be a tremendous asset to...
WASHINGTON-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) officially named former federal telecom regulator Rachelle Chong to the California Public Utilities Commission. "Rachelle's more than two decades of experience in telecommunications law in conjunction with her exceptional understanding of the regulatory environment will be a tremendous asset...
WASHINGTON-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as early as today is expected to appoint former Federal Communications Commission member Rachelle Chong to replace Susan Kennedy on the California Public Utilities Commission. Chong, a Republican, was an FCC member between 1994 and 1997 and was closely involved...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commission member Geoffrey Brown is seeking to delay the scheduled Jan. 26 vote on a scaled-back telecom bill-of-rights plan, while Commissioner Dian Grueneich crafts an alternative consumer protection measure. Brown-whose telecom consumer-protection package was approved in May 2004, before being suspended...
WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission is set to vote this month on a measure that would create a first-in-the-nation Telecommunications Consumer Fraud Unit. The fraud unit proposal is part of the new version of the controversial Consumer Bill of Rights. Also in the new...
WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission is set to vote in January on a measure that would create a first-in-the-nation Telecommunications Consumer Fraud Unit. The fraud unit proposal is part of the new version of the controversial Consumer Bill of Rights. Also in the new...
The wireless sector will enter 2006 with great expectations, everybody watching third-generation systems shift into higher gear with all that jazzy, digital content whose anytime, anywhere availability is transforming other industries even as cellular carriers of old reinvent themselves. Indeed, the mobility given voice...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey is poised to take control of the deregulatory telecom bill-of-rights plan championed by Commissioner Susan Kennedy, who is set to leave the agency at year's end to become chief of staff to GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kennedy,...
WASHINGTON-The California regulator behind the campaign to overhaul the state's bill of rights for telecom consumers has been tapped as chief of staff to GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The appointment adds an unexpected twist to the politically charged proceeding at the California Public Utilities...
WASHINGTON-The California regulator behind the campaign to overhaul the state's bill of rights for telecom consumers has been tapped as chief of staff to GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, adding an unexpected twist to the politically charged proceeding at the Public Utilities Commission. Susan Kennedy,...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Service Commissioner Susan Kennedy could be forced to strengthen her proposal to overhaul the telecom consumer bill of rights before a scheduled vote next month, according to one of her fellow commissioners, Geoffrey Brown. Brown, a Democrat, whose bill of rights...
WASHINGTON-Industry is trying to fend off bill-of-rights measures in two liberal states at opposite ends of the country, while a court battle rages over how regulatory recovery fees are itemized in monthly wireless bills. The stakes are high for industry. Wireless carriers fear that...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said wireless complaints dropped in the second quarter, a shift the agency attributed to a reduction in consumer gripes about billing and rates. At the same time, the FCC said wireless consumer complaints increased in other categories, including carrier marketing...
WASHINGTON-As industry spotlights the latest wireless data innovations this week in San Francisco, another show will unfold just blocks away, where the California Public Utilities Commission opens hearings on a telecom consumer protection plan with potentially far-reaching implications for firms at the Moscone Center...
WASHINGTON-As the bill-of-rights brawl in California enters a critical stage, emerging developments on the federal front could end up eclipsing state regulator Susan Kennedy's campaign to enact by year's end a consumer protection regime far less regulatory than the one approved last year to...
WASHINGTON-California regulators did something they have never done before, creating an area-code overlay for Beverly Hills. Beginning Aug. 26, celebrities wanting second, third and fourth phones may find themselves with phone numbers beginning with 424 rather than the fashionable 310 area code. "The beauty...
WASHINGTON-California regulators Thursday did something they have never done before. They created an area-code overlay for Beverly Hills. Beginning Aug. 26, 2006, celebrities wanting second, third and fourth phones may find themselves with phone numbers beginning with 424 rather than the fashionable 310 area...
WASHINGTON-A California-based consumer group last week filed formal complaints with state regulators against Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint PCS, accusing the No. 1 and No. 3 mobile-phone operators of charging subscribers for unwanted text messages and ringtones. The Utility Consumers' Action Network, headquartered in...
WASHINGTON-The California Supreme Court last week ruled arbitration agreements between companies and customers do not necessarily preclude people from filing class-action suits, a decision with unclear implications for the state's mobile-phone carriers with mandatory arbitration clauses in service contracts. While the California case involved...
The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing today on a proposal to revamp state regulation of wireless and wireline telecom carriers.The agency will hear from academics, industry executives, consumer groups and others.Commissioner Susan Kennedy is author of the telecom reform...
WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing Monday on a proposal to revamp state regulation of wireless and wireline telecom carriers.The agency will hear from academics, industry executives, consumer groups and others.Commissioner Susan Kennedy is author of the telecom reform plan and...
WASHINGTON-A consumer group petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to remove Commissioner Susan Kennedy from the agency's review of the bill of rights for telecom consumers. "Allowing a commissioner who has consistently displayed hostility and antipathy to the existing rules to vote on the...
WASHINGTON-The California Senate approved legislation creating a bill of rights for telecom consumers, a measure modeled after one-year-old state guidelines that are now in jeopardy as a revamped Public Utilities Commission considers a less-regulatory consumer rule."Despite its poor track record, the cellular telephone industry...
