WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission wants to fine
AT&T $780,000 for violating the government's telemarketing rules.
In an order released Monday, the commission said that AT&T made telephone calls to 29 consumers on 78 separate occasions after those consumers had asked AT&T not to call them again.
AT&T had "apparently violated the FCC's company-specific do-not-call rule," which has been in effect for years, long before the national do-not-call list went into effect last month, the commission said. It imposed a $10,000 fine for each call made.
The FCC said it had begun investigating AT&T several months ago, after receiving more than 300 complaints.
AT&T, the nation's largest long-distance company, had no immediate comment.
Ironically it is an AT&T subsidiary that is running the new national do-not-call list that is being managed by another government agency, the Federal Trade Commission.
AT&T won the multimillion-dollar contract after competitive bidding.
"AT&T had the best proposal at the best price," said Eileen Harrington, the FTC official who was in charge of developing the national do-not-call list, last spring after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Post revealed that more complaints were lodged against AT&T's telemarketing practices than any other long-distance firm.
"The irony of the fact that it was an AT&T subsidiary that won the contract was not lost on us," Harrington said.
AT&T will have 30 days to respond to the FCC's order.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell issued a statement saying, "Today's enforcement action demonstrates our resolve in the fight to protect consumers from unwanted and intrusive telephone calls."
More than 50 million phone lines have been registered to the national anti-telemarketing registry that went into effect in early October.
Both the FTC and FCC said they are investigating the thousands of complaints that have been posted by consumers, but it could be several weeks before any action is taken for making calls to numbers on that list.
In an order released Monday, the commission said that AT&T made telephone calls to 29 consumers on 78 separate occasions after those consumers had asked AT&T not to call them again.
AT&T had "apparently violated the FCC's company-specific do-not-call rule," which has been in effect for years, long before the national do-not-call list went into effect last month, the commission said. It imposed a $10,000 fine for each call made.
The FCC said it had begun investigating AT&T several months ago, after receiving more than 300 complaints.
AT&T, the nation's largest long-distance company, had no immediate comment.
Ironically it is an AT&T subsidiary that is running the new national do-not-call list that is being managed by another government agency, the Federal Trade Commission.
AT&T won the multimillion-dollar contract after competitive bidding.
"AT&T had the best proposal at the best price," said Eileen Harrington, the FTC official who was in charge of developing the national do-not-call list, last spring after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Post revealed that more complaints were lodged against AT&T's telemarketing practices than any other long-distance firm.
"The irony of the fact that it was an AT&T subsidiary that won the contract was not lost on us," Harrington said.
AT&T will have 30 days to respond to the FCC's order.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell issued a statement saying, "Today's enforcement action demonstrates our resolve in the fight to protect consumers from unwanted and intrusive telephone calls."
More than 50 million phone lines have been registered to the national anti-telemarketing registry that went into effect in early October.
Both the FTC and FCC said they are investigating the thousands of complaints that have been posted by consumers, but it could be several weeks before any action is taken for making calls to numbers on that list.
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