Wireless carriers tell FCC they disclose fees

The nation's biggest wireless carriers are telling federal regulators that they give consumers adequate notice about early termination fees that apply when a service contract is broken before it expires.

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Google made their comments in letters filed with the Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday in response to an FCC inquiry into early termination fees. The companies told the agency that such fees allow them to subsidize handset purchases — including purchases of cutting-edge smart phones — for customers. Wireless carriers normally recover those subsidies over the life of a contract, but cannot do that when a customer breaks a contract early. In addition, the companies said the U.S. wireless industry is highly competitive — with four national carriers and a number of smaller providers all offering many choices of plans, including prepaid and month-to-month plans with no contract and no early termination fees.