In an update of another story from last week, after the FCC said it would investigate a new fee Verizon and BellSouth planned on charging their high-speed Internet customers, BellSouth announced that it would immediately drop the fee.
BellSouth had been following Verizon's lead by planning to impose the "regulatory cost recovery fee" at exactly the same amount as the old Universal Service Fund (USF) fee which the companies had recently won the right to stop paying into. However, the FCC was skeptical about the new fee and promptly sent "letter of inquiry" to both BellSouth and Verizon asking whether the new fees complied with the FCC's "Truth-In-Billing" requirements for clearly explained and understandable customer charges.
While the FCC is generally lenient toward big telephone companies, the Commission felt this new fee went a bit too far. "The commission takes its obligation to protect consumers very seriously," said FCC spokesman David Fiske. "Consumers must be provided with clear and non-misleading information so they may accurately access the services for which they are being charged and the costs associated with those services."
After receiving the letter and reviewing the FCC's concerns, BellSouth promptly backed down and stated that it would cancel the fee. They also plan to credit any customer charged, with the credit taking anywhere from one to six weeks to appear on customer bills. Verizon, on the other hand, said it plans to publicly respond to the FCC inquiry, noting that it had provided reasons for its own fare hike on its Web site.
Read more about this issue in the ConsumerAffairs.com article FCC Nudges BellSouth Into Giving Up New DSL Fees.
