NEW YORK, NY — It’s not every day that the adult industry hears something encouraging from the Federal Communications Commission, but it recently did everyone — including pornographers — a big financial favor.As had been the case with BellSouth previously, Verizon planned to introduce a new surcharge on its DSL internet lines. As had been the case with BellSouth previously, the FCC expressed dissatisfaction with the idea.
It’s no coincidence that the two company’s DSL fees did or were being introduced at the same time that the federal Universal Service Fund fee was being removed, at the order of the FCC.
Verizon’s statement on the matter spun it differently. “We have listened to our customers,” it explained, “and are eliminating the charge,” which it claimed was necessary in order to cover rising “supplier” costs related to hooking up DSL customers who do not subscribe to its phone service. Oddly enough, Verizon is its own supplier. BellSouth had tried a similar argument, claiming that it needed the fee to pay for DSL related regulatory costs. Once again, the excuse was weak, since DSL is an unregulated service.
Perhaps one of Verizon’s customers was the FCC, which had sent the company a “letter of inquiry,” the first step in a formal FCC investigation.
Gene Kimmerlman of Consumers Union isn’t buying Verizon’s side of the story. Instead, he preposes that “They got caught red-handed in a blatant consumer rip-off. Only under the pressure of regulators cracking down on them did they back off from this unwarranted charge.”
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, issued a statement assuring consumers that “The continued deployment of broadband at affordable prices for customers remains my top priority as chairman.”
