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 NEWS  News  media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  TTY  202  /  418-  2555  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  ftp.  fcc.  gov  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974). 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:  News  Media  Contact: 
 March  29,  2001  Jordan  Goldstein,  202-  418-  2100 


 FCC  COMMISSIONER  SUSAN  NESS  CRITICIZES  DECISION  OF  LONG-DISTANCE 
 CARRIERS  TO  ASSESS  HEFTY  BILLING  FEE  ON  CONSUMERS 


 FCC  Commissioner  Susan  Ness  today  stated,  “I  am  dismayed  that  some  long-  distance 
 carriers  have  begun  to  levy  a  substantial  billing  charge  on  consumers  for  having  a 
 combined  local  and  long-  distance  bill.  I  am  particularly  troubled  –  as  all  consumers 
 should  be  –  by  reports  that  some  carriers  did  not  notify  consumers  in  advance  so  that 
 consumers  could  have  avoided  these  new  charges.  I  urge  the  Commission,  through  its 
 Enforcement  Bureau,  to  investigate  whether  these  line-  item  charges  are  consistent  with 
 our  truth-  in-  billing  rules,  unreasonable,  or  unreasonably  inflated.” 


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