‘Bill of Rights’ for Phone Users Proposed

SAN FRANCISCO —  Taking aim at consumer abuses in today’s frenzied phone markets, a California state regulator unveiled Tuesday measures that would beef up enforcement and protections for phone customers statewide.

The proposal, called the “Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights,” is spearheaded by new Public Utilities Commissioner Carl Wood. It has yet to go through a lengthy vetting process, but it nonetheless represents an unusually strong stance on consumer rights by the PUC.

The proposal breaks new ground in asserting that California’s wireless phone carriers must also abide by the new rules. That provision is sure to meet stiff resistance from the state’s fast-growing mobile phone industry, which has enjoyed lax enforcement on consumer matters since deregulation stripped states of the right to regulate wireless phone pricing.

Under the proposed rules outlined Tuesday, phone companies would be required to provide better disclosures of service terms and pricing, more detailed billing and better protection of customer privacy. Carriers also would be prohibited from burying key details in small type, changing contract terms or pricing and disconnecting service without adequate notice to the customer.

Wood will present the proposed rules for a vote by the full PUC on Thursday. If the proposal is approved, it would be subject to comments from companies, consumer groups and the public, with public hearings set for June and July. The PUC could vote on a final version in late September.

Consumer groups noted that Pacific Bell and GTE last year successfully squashed a “telephone consumer rights bill” backed by state Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), and predicted that the companies will fight the PUC’s consumer proposal as well.

Wood and other PUC officials stressed that the commission has always retained the right to regulate wireless carriers on quality-of-service matters--including complaints involving fraud or marketing abuses--even though many state rules do not specifically include mobile companies.

Wood said it is crucial for the PUC to assert its regulatory authority in the wireless market because of surging customer complaints involving the 158 mobile-service providers registered to operate in California.

In 1999, complaints to the PUC involving wireless companies jumped 38% to 3,356 and accounted for almost 15% of the total telecommunications complaints lodged with the commission.

Most complaints continue to involve the twin telecom scourges known as “slamming” and “cramming.” Slamming occurs when a customer’s long-distance company is changed without their consent; cramming is the addition of bogus charges to a customer’s bill.