Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell-Phone Companies Blame FCC for Upcoming Hike in Monthly Fees

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 18:30:23 -0400

Cell-Phone Companies Blame FCC for Upcoming Hike in Monthly Fees
June 25, 2003 6:23am

Jun. 25--Most cell-phone companies are raising their monthly fees, blaming a
Federal Communications Commission decision that forces them to let customers keep
their phone numbers when switching carriers.

The industry says it will cost companies $900 million to set up the system by a
Nov. 24 deadline. Maintaining the system will average about $500 million a year,
they say.

Four of the six major carriers have announced new fees to cover that cost.
Verizon Wireless said it will not impose a fee, at least until Nov. 24.

"It's a fee that the FCC allows companies to pass on," said Sprint PCS spokesman
Bob Kelley. He and other cellular-industry officials say the charges are the best
way to recover the costs.

Consumer advocates disagree, saying the carriers should calculate the costs of
complying with government regulations in their regular monthly rates.

Adding them as surcharges makes it tougher for consumers to know what the service
will actually cost before they sign up.
"These companies are misleading consumers," said Regina Costa, telecommunications
analyst for The Utility Reform Network.
Here's what the carriers plan to do: AT&T Wireless says it will charge all new
customers, ones switching rate plans and ones renewing contracts an extra $1.75 a
month for the costs of the FCC's phone-number portability requirement, along with
new procedures for pooling phone numbers to help minimize the need to create area
codes and requirements for launching an Enhanced 911 service.

Cingular Wireless in April introduced what it calls a "regulatory cost recovery
fee." The charge, which will range from 32 cents to $1.25, will help cover costs
of complying with number-portability and other regulations.

Nextel in January began charging customers a $1.55 a month "federal programs cost
recovery fee." It covers costs to comply with rules about phone number
portability, number pooling, and Enhanced 911 services.

Sprint PCS notified customers this month that it will start charging customers an
as-yet-undisclosed monthly number-portability fee on top of a 47-cent charge for
complying with regulations over phone-number pooling.
T-Mobile has yet to announce such a fee.

Verizon Wireless said it plans no new fees before the Nov. 24 deadline.

Then it will evaluate the costs of complying and figure out how to recoup them,
Chief Executive Denny Strigl said in a news release. "I don't believe that our
costs will be much more than 10 to 15 cents per customer per month," he said.
Costa said 10 to 15 cents a month is a reasonable estimate of the new costs. Fees
substantially above that are ridiculous, she said.

"The cellular guys can just make up a number, put it on your bill, and say, 'The
government made us do this,'" she said. "And they expect to get away with this."
Verizon, which is the biggest U.S. cellular carrier, had led a years-long campaign
to block efforts to let customers keep their phone numbers.

Although the industry lost its challenge of the FCC's ruling in federal court
earlier this month, it wasn't until Tuesday that Verizon Wireless said it would
comply with that decision.

While the other five big cellular carriers have yet to get on board, analysts said
Verizon's comments mean opposition to number portability is officially dead.

To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.ocregister.com
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