*Pages 1--1 from  Microsoft Word - 8033.doc*
 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  April  2,  2001  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  John  Winston  (202)  418-  7450 
 FCC  PROPOSES  $1,000,000  IN  TOTAL  FINES  AGAINST  TWO  CARRIERS  FOR  DECEPTIVE  MARKETING  PRACTICES 
 Washington,  D.  C.  -  Today  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  (Commission)  released  a  Notice  of  Apparent  Liability  proposing  a  total  of  $1  million  in  fines  against  two 
 affiliated  long  distance  companies,  NOS  Communications,  Inc.  (NOS)  and  Affinity  Network  Incorporated  (ANI),  for  apparently  engaging  in  unfair  and  deceptive  marketing 
 practices. 
 Since  1997,  the  Commission  has  received  nearly  900  consumer  complaints  against  NOS  and  ANI  alleging,  among  other  things,  misleading  advertising  and  “bait  and  switch” 
 marketing  practices.  Commission  staff  investigated  many  of  these  allegations.  The  proposed  forfeiture  is  based  on  the  companies’  practice  of  sending  to  consumers 
 marketing  materials  that  did  not  clearly  disclose  that  the  advertised  “cents-  per-  minute”  rates  were  limited  to  a  two-  month  promotional  period.  Further,  the  companies  failed  to 
 disclose  clearly  that  following  the  promotional  period,  rates  would  be  calculated  using  a  complex  formula  based  on  cents  per  “total  call  units.”  The  “total  call  unit”  formula  often 
 resulted  in  rates  that  were  twice  the  advertised  cents-  per-  minute  rate. 
 The  Commission  determined  that  NOS  and  ANI  had  apparently  willfully  or  repeatedly  violated  the  Communications  Act’s  prohibition  against  the  use  of  unjust  or  unreasonable 
 practices  in  connection  with  interstate  telecommunications  service.  NOS  and  ANI  have  30  days  to  either  pay  the  fine,  or  show  why  it  should  be  reduced  or  not  imposed. 


 NOS  is  a  Maryland  corporation  with  its  principal  office  in  Las  Vegas,  Nevada.  ANI, 
 which  also  conducts  business  as  Quantum  Link  Communications  and  Horizon  One  Communications,  is  a  California  corporation  headquartered  in  Los  Angeles. 


 Action  by  the  Commission,  March  28,  2001,  by  Notice  of  Apparent  Liability  (FCC  01- 
 113.  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Ness  and  Tristani.  Commissioner  Furchtgott-Roth  dissenting. 


 File  No.  EB-  00-  TC-  005 
 Enforcement  Bureau  Contacts:  John  Winston  at  (202)  418-  7450  or  Donna  Cyrus  at 
 (202)  418-  7325. 
1