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 NEWS  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).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  January  15,  2004  Suzanne  Tetreault  at  (202)  418-  7450 
 Suzanne.  Tetreault@  fcc.  gov 


 FCC  PROPOSES  TO  FINE  WCSS  $560,000  FOR  “SLAMMING”  VIOLATIONS 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  Today,  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  proposed  a  forfeiture  of  $560,000  against  World  Communications  Satellite  Systems,  Inc.  (“  WCSS”)  for  apparent 
 violations  of  the  Communications  Act  and  the  Commission’s  rules  and  orders  prohibiting  slamming.  Slamming  is  the  illegal  practice  of  switching  consumers'  preferred  long  distance  or 
 other  telephone  service  providers  without  their  consent. 
 After  receiving  a  large  number  of  consumer  complaints,  the  Commission’s  Enforcement  Bureau,  along  with  the  Public  Utility  Commission  of  Texas,  launched  an  investigation  into  WCSS’s 
 practices.  The  Commission  found  that  WCSS  apparently  submitted  preferred  carrier  changes  for  10  consumers  on  13  occasions  without  their  authorization  and  verification.  The  Commission 
 found  that  in  one  of  those  instances,  WCSS  apparently  misled  the  consumer  by  asserting  that  it  had  a  verification  tape  for  the  switch  when  it  apparently  did  not  have  such  a  tape.  Because  of  the 
 egregiousness  of  WCSS’s  behavior,  the  Commission  proposed  a  forfeiture  of  $80,000  for  that  violation,  as  compared  with  $40,000  for  each  of  the  other  12  unauthorized  carrier  changes. 


 WCSS  is  a  reseller  of  long  distance  telephone  service,  located  in  Champaign,  Illinois.  The  consumers  whose  service  was  switched  without  authorization  are  all  located  in  Texas. 
 Action  by  the  Commission  on  January  13,  2004,  by  Order  of  Forfeiture  (FCC  04-  9).  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps,  Martin,  and  Adelstein. 


 –  FCC  – 
 File  No.  EB-  03-  TC-  177 
 Enforcement  Bureau  Contacts:  Suzanne  Tetreault  at  (202)  418-  7450  and  Kurt  Schroeder  at  (202)  418-  7320. 


 TTY:  1  (888)  835-  5322 
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