WASHINGTON-At least one member of the California Public Utilities Commission is still resisting efforts to split the Beverly Hills area code even as the Federal Communications Commission is auditing T-Mobile USA Inc.'s use of numbers there."The CPUC has requested that a `for cause' audit...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commission member Carl Wood (D) has lost majority support for his telecom consumer plan, with fellow Commissioner Geoffrey Brown (D) deciding to draft an alternative bill of rights because of differences with Wood on sections of the proposal that have come...
WASHINGTON-As if battling a potentially new regulatory regime and the threat of hefty fines were not enough, California mobile-phone carriers now face a possible ballot initiative in November that could force them to add to monthly bills a surcharge to fund emergency-room care and...
WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone industry reacted angrily to a revised bill of rights for telecom consumers in California, claiming such a rule will hurt the state economy and runs counter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) deregulatory agenda. The California Public Utilities Commission late yesterday released...
WASHINGTON-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. told the five California Public Utility Commission members that findings leading to a record $12 million fine against the mobile-phone carrier are flawed, claiming on appeal that its network service quality is not inferior to other wireless carriers in the state.In...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commissioner member Geoffrey Brown today said he and Commissioner Carl Wood are close to an agreement on a bill of rights for telecom consumers, and he opposes an alternative plan that would exclude mobile-phone carriers."We're getting there . I think we...
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...
WASHINGTON-Even before the California Public Utilities Commission votes on a landmark bill of rights for telecom consumers, other states are signaling they too are ready to get tough with mobile-phone carriers. The Nebraska Public Service Commission late last month said it will ask the...
WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission again will postpone a vote on a controversial bill of rights for telecom consumers, increasing prospects for either major changes to the current draft or the introduction of alternative proposals that may be more to the wireless industry's liking.The...
Dear Editor,I have to disagree with you on your LNP shoplifting column (Aug. 11). People will leave you and owe you money no matter if they can take their number or not. It's being done everyday.I stiff Carrier A because I went over my...
Commissioner Carl Wood of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today issued the final draft of his proposed Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights, which details consumer rights that all communications service providers must respect, as well as a set of consumer protection rules all...
WASHINGTON-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is negotiating with the California Public Service Utilities Commission to settle a year-long probe of the nation's No. 2 mobile-phone carrier's business practices, a development that could signal a strategy shift in industry as states contemplate landmark legal and regulatory action...
WASHINGTON-Sprint PCS late Friday was expected to file a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming the California Public Utilities Commission is violating federal law by not assigning it more telephone numbers in Beverly Hills, Calif."If Sprint PCS does not immediately obtain numbers in...
WASHINGTON-At the same time the wireless industry was telling Congress and the Federal Communications Commission that it could not deploy enhanced 911 without liability protection, it was developing and implementing wireless arbitration rules designed to keep wireless carriers out of court.Congress bought the industry's...
WASHINGTON-Agreeing with a Federal Communications Commission decision, a federal appeals court has ruled one-way paging carriers are entitled to compensation from local exchange carriers."We will not second-guess the agency," said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Dec. 27."The 9th Circuit's...
DENVER-The Colorado Public Utilities Commission scrapped a plan that would have provided a new area code for wireless phones and pagers only.Citing legal and financial implications, the commission has instead opted to retain an original plan calling for an all-services overlay for area-code relief.The...
DENVER-The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is considering a plan to provide a new area code just for wireless phones and pagers despite a 1995 ruling from the Federal Communications Commission that prohibits such action.The CPUC believes Colorado will need a new area code by...
Lightbridge Inc. successfully petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to overturn a long-standing rule that forbids California wireless carriers to share customer information.The new ruling, said Lightbridge, allows wireless carriers immediately to begin sharing negative customer-credit data. Lightbridge petitioned the CPUC to overturn the...
SAN FRANCISCO-The California Public Utilities Commission recently approved an $800,000 settlement between its Consumer Services Division and GTE Mobilnet Inc. to end its investigation into GTE's compliance with CPUC rules governing cell sites.GTE Mobilnet will pay $800,000 to the State of California's General Fund...
The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to allow bundling of cellular telephones gives the commission a card to play as it seeks permission from the Federal Communications Commission to maintain control of cellular rates."It is one way we can show that California...
SAN FRANCISCO- The California Public Utilities Commission awarded five groups $38,613 for their advocacy in a CPUC decision last April that allowed AT&T Corp. to acquire McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.The Latino Issues Forum, Chinese for Affirmative Action, San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce, Mexican-American...
Cellular carriers in California have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject a petition filed by the California Public Utilities Commission that asks for continued state regulation of cellular rates.The FCC planned to take control of rate regulation from states Aug. 10 under authority...
