Phone company Net One International could be fined $1.6 million for allegedly billing consumers for unauthorized charges and late fees even though the customers had already closed their accounts and paid their final bills, the FCC said in a news release (http://fcc.us/Wfpa0n) Tuesday. The FCC issued a notice of apparent liability (NAL) to the company (http://bit.ly/1wrdoL4). “Shaking down consumers by billing them for unwanted charges on closed accounts is intolerable,” said Enforcement Bureau Acting Chief Travis LeBlanc. “When a consumer says ‘I am done, cancel my account,’ they mean it. Period.” Based on its review of over 100 consumer complaints, the FCC found that over several years, Net One repeatedly billed consumers long after the consumers had canceled service, paid their final bills, and switched to other carriers, the release said. In some instances, the company still tried to negotiate additional fees and charges after customers paid final bills, and Net One threatened customers with debt collection if consumers failed to pay charges they had not authorized, the FCC said. The conduct was “egregious,” the FCC said. In January, the Enforcement Bureau affirmed a $25,000 fine issued to Net One in 2011 for failing to fully respond to the bureau’s inquiries about cramming allegations, according to the release. Monday, the FCC issued a $7.2 million NAL to Optic Internet Protocol over allegations similar to what Net One faces (CD July 15 p13). A phone call and an email to Net One were not immediately returned.

FCC approval of the E-rate order (CD July 14 p1) is “a big win for students and teachers everywhere,” EducationSuperHighway said in a statement Friday. “By connecting our nation’s students through Wi-Fi, this order offers a whole new world of educational opportunities in the classroom and beyond.” The group of nonprofits, foundations, associations, state education departments and others said it works to ensure U.S. primary and secondary schools have sufficient Internet infrastructure.

Vonage and other VoIP interests lobbied the FCC last week. The agency’s proposal for direct access to numbers for interconnected VoIP (iVoIP) providers should be finalized, the company said in-house and external lawyers told FCC officials including General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and Wireline Bureau officials. Such direct access would let iVoIP providers “dramatically expand voluntary IP interconnection arrangements, creating a critical IP interconnection test bed as the Commission considers how to advance the IP transition while protecting the public interest,” said a Vonage filing posted Friday to docket 13-97 (http://bit.ly/1qAUuQc). “Based on its experience seeking IP interconnection with other parties, Vonage expects that a wide array of potential IP interconnection partners would be willing to enter into voluntary IP interconnection agreements with iVoIP providers if the Commission grants those providers direct access to numbers.” With no direct access, iVoIP provider numbers appear to belong to numbering partners, preventing direct routing for IP interconnection, said Vonage. “Direct access will also lower costs, enable innovative and advanced services such as HD voice” and have other positive effects, said the company. It’s among the backers of a petition by the Voice Communication Exchange Committee (also using the VCEX acronym) for the FCC to start an inquiry on HD voice. No filing in the comment cycle on the VCEX petition opposed such an inquiry (CD June 25 p15; June 26 p17; July 10 p5). VCXC founder Dan Berninger and VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver, both Vonage co-founders, warned the FCC of the consequences of imposing Communications Act Title II rules on broadband Internet access to achieve net neutrality, as an NPRM asks about. (See separate report above in this issue.) “Abandoning” the regulated Title II distinction for telecom and the nonregulated Title I approach for information services for net neutrality authority merits a much closer look and more “extensive evidence of market failure” than exists in the record, said Berninger and Pulver. A VCXC filing on their separate meetings with Commissioner Ajit Pai, an official in the Wireline Bureau and an officials the General Counsel’s office was posted Friday in docket 14-28 (http://bit.ly/1wmOPPb). The role state, telco and VoIP officials see for Title II rules in a transition from circuit-switched to IP phone service depends on how stakeholders would be affected by the IP transition and interconnection, our survey of stakeholders found (CD July 11 p7).

Optic Internet Protocol faces a potential $7.62 million FCC fine for allegedly switching consumers’ long-distance phone services without authorization, billing customers for unauthorized charges and submitting falsified evidence to regulatory officials as “proof” of consumers’ authorizations, said an agency news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1oY2jhC). “Cheating and lying to consumers are unacceptable, predatory business practices,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau acting chief. The FCC issued a notice of apparent liability to the company (http://bit.ly/1js1pfv). Optic provides 1+ dialing long-distance service, the release said. Consumers’ long-distance service was switched to Optic so long-distance calls are carried over Optic’s network and billed by Optic, the FCC said. Optic allegedly switched complainants’ preferred long-distance carriers and billed the consumers for long-distance service by placing charges for its set-up fee and recurring monthly fee on their local phone bills, the agency said. Optic typically charged customers a $3.95 or $4.95 one-time set-up fee and a monthly service fee of $4.95, $8.95 or $29.95, said the FCC. It said the agency reviewed more than 150 complaints against Optic that consumers filed with the agency, the FTC, state regulatory agencies and the Better Business Bureau. Optic wasn’t immediately available for comment.

A 30-day extension for data from inmate calling service providers was granted by the FCC Wireline Bureau in an order (http://bit.ly/1tIT6R9) posted in docket 12-375 and released in Monday’s Daily Digest. Petitions by CenturyLink, Global*Tel Link, Inmate Calling Solutions, Network Communications International Corp. and Telmate for 60- or 90-day extensions were denied because they would delay commission action, the order said. A shorter extension was granted, because of “the scope of the data request and our interest in obtaining accurate and complete responses,” the order said. The data now are due Aug. 18, the order said.

Proper testing and data collection of the functionality of home security alarms should be incorporated into the IP transition trials, Paul Plofchan, ADT vice president-government and regulatory affairs, told an aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai July 9, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1zBPAs0) posted in docket 12-353 Friday. Communications services intended to replace plain old telephone service must meet certain technical criteria, the filing said. It is critical to safety for the telecommunications provider to test alarm functionality and line seizure, ADT said. Representatives of ML Strategies also participated in the meeting, the filing said.

The FCC should issue a declaratory ruling clarifying that Section 64.1200(a) (4)(iv) of its rules doesn’t apply to fax advertisements sent with the prior express consent or permission of the recipient, Merck said in a petition (http://bit.ly/1oXDqTm) posted to docket 02-278 Friday. In the alternative, the drugmaker asked the commission to clarify that the statutory basis for Section 64.1200(a) (4)(iv) is not Section 227 (b), or that solicited faxes sent with effective opt-out notices don’t violate FCC rules. A lawsuit seeking class-action status in U.S. District Court in Hartford claims that Merck violated commission rules because the opt-out language on the faxes allegedly didn’t fully comply.

Neustar challenged Ericsson’s “overly restrictive redactions” of bid documents in the proceedings for the selection of a local number portability administrator vendor. The comments came in a letter (http://bit.ly/U5P451) to the FCC posted as an ex parte notice in docket 09-109 Wednesday. “The selection decision will entail significant consequences for consumers, the industry, and for future innovations,” said Neustar. “Because of the importance of the LNPA, Neustar has stressed the need for openness and meaningful public participation.” Neustar currently holds the contract, which runs through July 2015.

The challenges faced by each school or library are different, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said in a statement after the passage of the FCC E-rate modernization order. (See separate report above in this issue.) “We need to make sure that limited E-Rate program resources are used effectively to address unique problems faced by individual institutions rather than being consumed for any single purpose,” Bloomfield said. The order “takes a step toward ensuring that our young people continue to have access to world-class learning resources -- regardless of where they live or the affluence of their school districts and libraries,” said PCIA CEO Jonathan Adelstein. The action “to use E-Rate funding in a balanced and integrated way to deliver true high speed Internet service to schools and libraries ... represents an important step toward realizing the promise of the Administration’s ConnectED initiative,” Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote (http://bit.ly/1nfAej6) on the cable operator’s blog.

Comments on proposed USF overhauls are due Aug. 8, replies Sept. 8, in FCC dockets including 14-58, said the agency in a Federal Register notice Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1oJT46i). The NPRM seeks to adapt its universal service reforms to ensure those living in high-cost areas have access to services that are reasonably comparable to services offered in urban areas (CD April 24 p2).