FCC Chairman Martin Still Supports Waiving Early Termination Fees
CARLSBAD, CALIF. -(Dow Jones)- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Thursday reiterated his support for waiving cell phone contract termination fees until after the first bill arrives and for government subsidies for broadband network construction.
Martin's comments, which came during a question-and-answer session on stage at The Wall Street Journal's "All Things D" conference here, were nothing new. But by repeating his stance, the commissioner is showing that he still backs these ideas.
What Martin supports is the notion that broadband networks are becoming as fundamentally important to the U.S. as the telephone and its networks, and should be treated as such by the government. Telephone network construction has been subsidized for decades.
"We spend $6 billion a year on infrastructure for telephone networks," he said. "I think we need to move that to subsidized broadband."
Martin was responding to a question about why U.S. Internet providers consistently offer broadband services that are much slower, but cost more, than their counterparts in other major nations.
The commissioner also repeated his support for making it less expensive for cell phone consumers to get out of multiple year service contracts early. Currently, operators charge hefty early termination fees when doing so. But Martin, as he has done in the past, said he supports waiving those fees until at least two weeks after consumers get their first bill.
Consumers need the time to ensure their new phones and services contracts "do what they are supposed to do...and (there are) no surprise charges."
-By Ben Charny, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; ben.charny@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Posted to the site on 30th May 2008
