WTA Files Comments on Cramming and Slamming with FCC

On September 13, WTA filed comments in response to an FCC NPRM on slamming and cramming. In its comments, “WTA urges the Commission to consider additional consumer protection steps that will discourage slamming and cramming without impeding competition or imposing excessive and unnecessary costs upon local exchange carriers and interexchange carriers. With respect to slamming, WTA believes that a combination of non-mandatory preferred interexchange carrier (“PIC”) freezes and permissive double-checking to confirm PIC change orders constitutes the most effective and efficient approach to minimize slamming in RLEC service areas.

“As to cramming, WTA continues to support the existing ‘truth-in-billing’ rules and foresees more complex problems in the future, but believes that the current proposal to allow individual customers to opt out of third party toll billing is not necessary and would destroy any remaining economies and efficiencies in the declining business involving billing and collection for third party toll services.”