The FCC has proposed fining AT&T Corp. $780,000 for violating its do-not-call rule. The commission said an investigation revealed AT&T called 29 consumers on 78 separate occasions after those people requested AT&T not call them again.
The FCC said AT&T apparently violated its company-specific do-not-call rule.
“Today’s enforcement action demonstrates our resolve in the fight to protect consumers from unwanted and intrusive telephone calls,” FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a statement. “This puts telemarketers on notice that we will take all measures necessary to protect consumers who chose to be left alone in their homes.”
AT&T, the largest long-distance carrier, said it had not seen the so-called notice of apparent liability, but the company noted the alleged violations do not relate to the national do-not-call list.
“We have been cooperating with the FCC over the past several months in investigating claims that date well back into 2002,” the company said in a statement. “We set a very high priority on respecting do-not-call requests and have even urged our customers to sign up for the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] do-not-call list.”
In June, the FTC began allowing consumers to list their numbers on the national do-not-call registry. Consumers listed on the registry had filed more than 37,000 complaints as of Oct. 24. The registry contains 53.7 million phone numbers, according to the FTC.
