Martin May Find Verizon Broke FCC Number Porting Rules
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin seems poised to circulate an order finding Verizon broke number porting rules. At issue are allegations that Verizon illegally used information from three cable operators to try to win back phone customers, agency and industry officials said. The impending order is believed to address a Feb. 11 complaint by Bright House, Comcast and Time Warner Cable that Verizon tried to woo back customers who asked to buy the cable operators’ voice services, leaving the Bell. Verizon denies any violation, but the cable operators say it breached Telecommunications Act provisions on porting.
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The FCC has until either April 11 or April 14 to act on the complaint, depending on when the agency decides the 60- day period began, cable and telecommunications industry officials said. Martin hasn’t circulated an order, but is expected to do so soon, said an agency official. Comcast sought expedited treatment of the complaint, but the FCC may be able to extend its own deadline, said industry officials. FCC spokespeople declined to comment.
The dispute over phone customer porting is linked to the question of how easy it should be for video subscribers to change providers. After the cable operators complained about Verizon and phone service, the company said the cable industry should make it easier for video subscribers to switch their service to it and other new video entrants (CD March 27 p1).
“We hope the FCC in its usual fashion views these issues through consumers’ eyes,” a Verizon spokesman said. “People want to obtain the best bundle of services at the best price, and competition is the best way to make that happen.” Bright House declined to comment. A Time Warner Cable official didn’t return a message seeking comment.
Before it and the other cable companies complained to the FCC about Verizon, Comcast tried to have a mediator resolve the dispute, documents filed with the FCC show. “We haven’t had any additional meetings since the filing of the complaint that have required ex parte communications,” said a Comcast spokeswoman.
CompTel is “extremely concerned” about Verizon’s customer retention actions as detailed by the cable operators, the group said in a March 24 letter. “Under no circumstances can a credible claim be made that either competition or consumers are disadvantaged by the Commission’s narrowly tailored restrictions on retention marketing,” it said. Verizon only seems to use the contested retention practices for customers moving to cable, said a competitive local exchange carrier source, but competitive telcos fear that if the FCC doesn’t sanction Verizon the Bell will expand the marketing practice.
In response to Verizon’s March petition that the FCC stop cable operators from slowing customers from switching to new video providers, Martin likely will circulate a notice seeking comment on the practice, said agency and industry officials. Such a notice may ask whether cable operators need a porting process of their own by which to let a consumer’s new video provider ask the old one to end service, they said. Martin may ask colleagues to approve in tandem the order against Verizon and the notice on video subscriber switches, said industry sources.
Cable operators claim it’s impractical and unnecessary for them to accept cutoff requests from rivals because pay-TV subscribers can ask directly that a provider cancel service. But, to keep phone numbers when they switch telecom companies, consumers rely on the old company to hand off information to the new one. “We sort of think it’s apples and oranges because there’s nothing that prevents a video customer from accepting a new provider and then simply letting the old provider know that they've discontinued service,” said NCTA Senior Vice President Dan Brenner. “If a customer cancels the service, then we know that the customer has made his or her decision, and we avoid having to get into the problems of slamming and third-party verification, which will add cost to a process that doesn’t need at this point that extra procedure.”