3. Proposed Settlement
The Settlement Agreement, attached at Appendix A to this decision, covers all California non-business customers of New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC and its related entities (AT&T), both existing and future customers.5
3.1. Standard of Review for Settlements
We review the settlement under the requirements set forth in Rule 12.1(d) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. The rule provides that, prior to approval, the Commission must find a settlement "reasonable in light of the whole record, consistent with the law, and in the public interest."
3.2. Terms of the Settlement
Under the provisions of the Settlement Agreement, AT&T agrees to provide notification to existing and future customers when AT&T activates pay-per-use International Roaming that this is a service included in their rate plan and what these features could mean in potential charges for customers who carry their cell phone overseas on a trip.6 AT&T will also provide customers information regarding methods to manage their usage of this service, including the right to opt-out or block the service.
AT&T commits to undertake notification of existing customers through a separate mailing, followed by a prominently displayed alert on AT&T's website. AT&T will continue to notify customers in at least six bill messages within a 12-month period and it will provide notification to future customers by a text message at service activation; all notices will instruct the customer how he/she may obtain additional information about the service. Further, AT&T commits to placing a restriction on unblocking International Roaming on a secondary line of a California non-business account (e.g., Family Talk), unless requested otherwise by the customer.
Under the new notification process, AT&T will inform customers that under the International Roaming Service, AT&T can charge them for incoming phone calls that go directly to voicemail when their phone is turned on in a foreign country. Customers will be provided specific rates per country and an international customer service number that may be dialed free of charge from the customer's wireless phone anywhere in the world that the customer's AT&T wireless phone can make calls. In addition, AT&T will send California customers with pay-per-use voice and pay-per-use data international roaming services a free text message when the customer arrives in a country; this text message will include the international roaming rate for that country.7
In negotiating the Settlement Agreement, AT&T and UCAN state that they included the input of technical experts from both parties, and this produced a creative solution: the customer specified on-line usage notification. This usage notification tool, when made available to California customers, will give consumers greater control in managing their international roaming usage and costs.8 The tool will allow a customer to request notification, via a text message and if requested, e-mail, when a certain threshold of international usage is reached, and to have at least five threshold options from which to choose. At AT&T's sole discretion, usage thresholds will be set based on a dollar amount or minutes of usage (MOUs).
The Settlement Agreement does not directly address UCAN's assertions that AT&T violated the Commission's GO 168 by not timely resolving the complaints of the two customers cited in this proceeding and ceasing all collections activity while a complaint investigation was pending. However, the Settlement Agreement does provide that one of the customers cited by UCAN will have her account credited in full to reflect no outstanding balance and will also be sent a letter documenting that there is no negative report by AT&T to the credit bureaus. The account of the other customer was previously credited in full.
Finally, should a breach of the Settlement Agreement occur in the future, UCAN agrees to first provide AT&T an opportunity to promptly cure the breach before filing any complaint with the Commission.9 The Settlement is effective on the date it is approved by the Commission and will terminate one year following AT&T's implementation of usage notification or July 1, 2012, whichever is earlier.
3.3. Discussion of Proposed Settlement
In its complaint, UCAN asserts that AT&T has violated the provisions of Public Utilities Code Section 2890(a) by activating a telephone service, international roaming, without adequate customer notification and by billing customers for international calls they did not place. The Settlement Agreement does not make a finding on whether existing customers, individually or as a class, received adequate notification or were charged for unplaced calls, but it does adopt a comprehensive system of improved customer notification that should ensure non-business customers understand when the international roaming service is activated and what the features and rates are, and that customers are provided the means to effectively manage this service by choosing to opt-out, block, or set specific thresholds of usage. The Settlement Agreement also resolves all issues related to charges to the two individual customers cited in the complaint.
We find the enhanced notification and account management provisions contained in the Settlement Agreement will be extremely beneficial for all existing customers since many customers may be unaware that they have the service and/or the features it contains, thus exposing these customers to substantial charges when they travel overseas with their cell phones. The Settlement Agreement is also in the public interest as it will ensure future customers are fully informed and that AT&T is quickly alerted to any fraudulent practices that occur while its customers are overseas.
On the issue of whether AT&T violated the provisions of GO 168, our record reflects that both parties undertook extensive discovery and that the two customers UCAN cited in the complaint have had their billing disputes resolved in full. We do not have a sufficient record to make any finding of violations. Going forward, we find that the enhanced notification and account management provisions of the Settlement Agreement should reduce future customer billing disputes related to international roaming services.
Based on the above discussion, we find that the Settlement Agreement is reasonable in light of the record as a whole and in the public interest because it addresses in a comprehensive and innovative manner the issues raised by UCAN in its complaint. The Settlement Agreement is also consistent with the law as it adopts provisions designed to better ensure compliance with the Commission's statutes and regulations. Therefore, we adopt the Settlement Agreement.
5 The current AT&T wireless affiliates operating in California that are registered with the Commission, in addition to New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC, are Cagel Cellular Communications Corporation, Santa Barbara Cellular Systems, Ltd., and Visalia Cellular Telephone Company.
6 AT&T maintains that its service agreement includes the capability for international roaming on a pay-per-use basis. There are no additional monthly recurring charges. AT&T states that it typically blocks or restricts international roaming and dialing outside of North America until it is established that the customer has been in good standing with the company for a period of time and/or satisfies other criteria. Further, it states that as a courtesy, and not as a part of any legal obligation, AT&T generally attempts to notify the customer when the customer's ability to dial and/or roam internationally is no longer restricted. See October 12, 2007 Answer to Complaint.
7 This feature must be functional within 120 days of the date the settlement is approved.
8 In the settlement, AT&T commits to making Usage Notification available no later than 12 months following AT&T's receipt of usage data from other countries using a data exchange reporting procedure, Near Real Time Roaming Data Exchange (NRTRDE). The threshold for activation will be when at least 17 of the top 20 countries with which AT&T's customers have the highest International Roaming usage, based on minutes of use, are using NRTRDE.
9 Both parties agree the Commission shall have jurisdiction to enforce the terms of this Settlement Agreement.
