Chairman Wheeler Expounds on AT&T Proposed Fine

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler drilled down into the proposed $100 million AT&T fine for its Maximum Bit Rate plan, saying that the Federal Communications Commission had still not come up with a final decision, which would come after AT&T offered up its response to the proposal. But he suggested that could ultimately include consumer refunds as well as the proposed fine. "Right now, our authority is to levy a fine," he said. While he said it was premature to talk about whether refunds could result from any settlement that might result from the process, "it is not at this point in the NAL, but it is a possibility it could evolve."

Chairman Wheeler made clear that while AT&T would still be making its case, he thought the company had not been sufficiently transparent about its "unlimited" plan and the limits on speed it included in some cases. That came in a press conference following the FCC's June public meeting June 18, at which he was asked about possible legislation out of the Senate Commerce Committee that would allow companies like AT&T to challenge such fines before they were proposed. Chairman Wheeler said that the 2010 Open Internet order transparency rules are explicit that there had to be "sufficient explanation" of carrier activities. He said in this instance, the term "unlimited" that AT&T used wasn't unlimited and the policy wasn't explained. "They said that it [the policy] applies to the top 5 percent of data subscribers. How am I supposed to know I am in the top 5 percent," he said. "How is that a sufficient explanation?" He also said there was no notice about what the slowdown would be, and how much reduction, and no explanation of what the impact of that would be "on the way I used what I thought I had bought."