Bloomberg report claims action tied to previous FTC court filing

AT&T Mobility is reportedly looking at a potential fine from the Federal Communications Commission related to claims the carrier was not providing adequate notification to customers impacted by throttled mobile data speeds.

Bloomberg, citing a letter filed by AT&T in a California court, reported that the FCC was investigating AT&T Mobility for the throttling claims tied to a court complaint filed late last year by the Federal Trade Commission. The FCC investigation is said to be looking at whether AT&T had violated net neutrality rules.

“It is the FCC, not the FTC, that regulates network management practices,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told Bloomberg. “We manage our network resources [in a manner]that is transparent and fully consistent with the FCC’s net neutrality rules.”

The FTC complaint cited that the mobile operator’s throttling of data speeds for “unlimited” data customers did not include adequate information on the practice. The FTC notes that AT&T Mobility’s move in 2011 to begin throttling data speeds for unlimited data customers once they hit 2 gigabytes of usage per month, “often resulting in speed reductions of 80% to 90% for affected users.” The FTC claims such practices have impacted at least 3.5 million unique customers more than 25 million times.

“Customer complaints poured into the company, the Better Business Bureau and government agencies,” the FTC noted in a blog post explaining its action. “AT&T has received more than 190,000 customer calls about throttling.”

T-Mobile US late last year announced an agreement with the FCC to provide more transparency to consumers who have their mobile data speeds throttled. The agreement followed FCC claims that T-Mobile US customers are able to access speed-testing applications that only show the unthrottled network speeds being offered by the carrier and not the true network speed to which a customer is being throttled. T-Mobile US customers have their network access speeds throttled to either 128 kilobits per second or 64 kbps depending on their rate plan, once they hit their allotted data bucket. Those customers will now be provided with access to network speed tests that show their current network speed.

• Regional telecom operator Cincinnati Bell is reportedly in hot water over the handling of the dismantling of its mobile operations.

Cincinnati.com is reporting that consumers are complaining Cincinnati Bell’s move to shut down its wireless service has impacted prices they are paying for the company’s Internet and wired-phone services that it plans to continue supporting. The allegations include customers needing to unbundle wireless services from their plans that have resulted in higher prices, and the inability to unlock current Cincinnati Bell mobile devices so they can work with other mobile operators.

Cincinnati Bell last year announced plans to sell its mobile operations to Verizon Wireless for $210 million. Cincinnati Bell, which had 304,000 wireless subscribers at the end of 2013, said at the time it had become increasingly difficult to invest in wireless infrastructure at the levels needed to compete with larger rivals.

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