FCC imposed $520,000 fine against AT&T for slamming 11 customer p...

Commission had issued December 21, AT&T didn’t deny that it had submitted unauthorized change orders for 6 telephone lines, but argued that in 8 remaining alleged violations no slamming violations had occurred. Commission disagreed, finding carrier slammed 11 of 14 customer telephone lines identified in NAL and said available evidence suggested that 3 remaining customers did authorize switching carriers. In his statement Furchtgott-Roth said 6 unauthorized conversions undisputed by AT&T “were caused wholly by processing or data entry errors. AT&T in no way intended to slam these customers, had procedures in place to prevent slamming but erroneously changed these customers’ preferred carrier.” Noting that carriers process millions of change orders each year and it’s impossible to eliminate all mistakes, he said FCC failed to follow rules that “explicitly require it to consider the degree of culpability in determining the amount of forfeiture penalty. In terms of culpability, AT&T’s unintentional violations of the slamming rules pale in comparison to most we have previously penalized. In these circumstances the penalty for slamming should be significantly reduced,” he wrote.