Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER GEOFFREY STARKS
Re:	Strengthening Customer Service in the Communications Industry, CG Docket No. 24-472, Notice of Inquiry 
	Getting support from the companies you pay to provide you with services shouldn’t be a chore.  And yet we all know it can be.  We’ve all been led down a maze of “press 1” options, when we just want to talk to a person.  We’ve all had to rearrange our schedules to make sure we can be home during an unreasonably long service window.  We’ve all struggled to cancel a service, and thought “this should be easier.”
	I’m proud that the FCC already has in place a number of regulations seeking to protect consumers against these problematic practices.  For example, we require cable operators to maintain customer service phone lines with live representatives, and we limit the maximum appointment window that they can propose for service calls and installations.  Today, we ask about the efficacy of these current requirements.  Are they working the way they should?  Are there updates we should consider?  And should we extend these requirements, or similar ones, to the other services under our purview, including voice, broadband, and satellite TV providers?  I want to thank my colleagues for including additional questions that I proposed about whether and how companies are deploying AI in customer service, including as a partial or full alternative to live customer service representatives.
Notably, today’s item is in step with actions and proposals taken across the government.  From the Federal Trade Commission, to the Department of Transportation, to the Department of Health and Human Services, to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, our government is focused on protecting and promoting American consumers.  That’s the way it should be.



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