Today: FTC Telemarketing Complaint Settlement, Indiana Broadband and Universal Service Study Bill
Federal Trade Commission Settlement With Recidivist Robocaller
The FTC announced that it entered into a settlement agreement order with Justin Ramsey, the ringleader of telemarketing operations that blasted illegal robocalls (see press release) to consumers and called phone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. The order bans Ramsey and his company, Prime Marketing LLC, from placing robocalls to individuals to sell goods or services, initiating sales calls to numbers listed on the DNC Registry, and selling data lists containing phone numbers listed on the Registry. Ramsey and Prime Marketing agreed to a $2.2 million civil penalty, which will be suspended upon payment of $65,000. The full judgment will become due if they are later found to have misrepresented their financial condition.
Indiana Broadband and Universal Service Study Bill
Effective July 1, 2017, a new law HEA 1626 in Indiana establishes a process for a local governmental unit that wishes to be certified as a broadband ready community. The certification must meet the standards set forth in the new law, including a notice to existing broadband providers of the decision to seek the certification. The law also prohibits the local government unit from discriminating among communication service providers with respect to broadband adoption in the unit and imposing a fee on communications service providers to fund promotion of broadband adoption.
Another provision of the law urges the legislative council to assign to the interim study committee on energy, utilities, and telecommunications the topic of rural broadband service in Indiana. If the topic is assigned, the committee may consider, among other things, the types of service on which the Indiana USF surcharge is imposed; the types of service for which disbursements from the Indiana USF may be used; the eligibility requirements for service providers to receive disbursements from the Indiana USF; broadband deployment and adoption; and barriers to broadband deployment. As part of its study, the committee may request information from service providers and customers, as well as the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and experts. The Committee would have to issue its report by November 1, 2017.
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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
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