AT&T facing $100-million fine from FCC
Wireless carrier AT&T Inc. could be forced to pay $100 million after the Federal Communications Commission found that the company had slowed data networks for “unlimited” plan holders without informing them, the agency said Wednesday.
Since 2011, thousands of customers had complained to the FCC that AT&T had drastically reduced their network speeds, preventing them from using basic functions such as GPS mapping and video streaming after they had used a certain amount of data.
“Consumers deserve to get what they pay for,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. “The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure.”
The proposed fine would be the largest in FCC history, FCC spokesman Neil Grace said. The agency based it on estimates that AT&T had earned billions from locking consumers into plans falsely advertised as “unlimited.”
AT&T defended its practices, saying the FCC had approved them as “legitimate” and said it would “vigorously dispute” the findings.
“We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC’s disclosure requirements,” the company said in a statement.
“We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC’s disclosure requirements,” the company said in a statement.
The FCC said millions of AT&T unlimited customers felt lags on their mobile systems for an average of 12 days during each billing cycle.
By advertising those plans as “unlimited” without informing users of possible network delays, AT&T violated the 2010 Open Internet Transparency Rule, which was upheld by a federal court in January, the FCC said. The agency has not cited AT&T for violating net neutrality rules that went into effect last week that prohibit Internet providers from blocking traffic or slowing down networks, called “throttling.”
The FCC’s decision was not unanimous among the five commissioners.