CONSUMER GROUP SAYS COMMISSION USES FUNNY NUMBERS TO HELP INCUMBENTS

摘要

The FCC has used bad data to help AT&T, Verizon and other large local incumbents, TeleTruth said. The independent consumer group filed three complaints with the FCC this week of commission violations of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Data Quality Act and section 257 of the Telecom Act, which requires the FCC to eliminate entry barriers for entrepreneurs and small businesses. "The use of bad data is so pronounced and has created such harms that we recommend reopening many dockets for reexamination," TeleTruth said. The group specifically criticized an FCC decision last month giving Bells and other price-cap carriers relief from data-reporting requirements. That order repeatedly and wrongly said that "the majority of these firms are small entities that may be affected by our action," TeleTruth said. "The FCC should never have strip-mined any of the [reporting] obligations... because the FCC has no clue about the current marketplace," it said. The problem is that the commission's "Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act" analysis uses data from 1992, 1997-2002 and 2005, though the agency has more recent information, TeleTruth said.