Toll-Free Provider Seeks Urgent FCC Interconnection Relief Amid AT&T, Verizon Plans
A toll-free service provider asked the FCC for emergency relief or a rulemaking to declare the Communications Act doesn't let telecom carriers "block interconnection to their location platform for toll-free calls initiated on their networks." Sections 222 and 251 also…
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shouldn't permit carriers "to impose upon connecting carriers and providers of toll-free telephone service an obligation to obtain the consent of customers to use their location for purposes of routing their calls to a toll-free number," petitioned 800 Response Information Services, posted Thursday in docket 96-115. It asked for relief to take effect by Oct. 19, when AT&T "has notified connecting carriers and toll-free service providers that it will no longer provide even 'coarse' location information for toll-free calls initiated by its own customers unless such calls are 'safety related' (a term which it does not define), while continuing to provide location information support of a full suite of location-based services to non-telecommunications users." It said Verizon also plans "to initiate in the near future a cumbersome double consent requirement forcing customers to provide consent via SMS after already having imposed an opt-in consent for call termination via an interactive voice response." AT&T emailed that it's "winding down relationships with aggregators as soon as practical in a way that preserves critical services, like roadside assistance and fraud prevention." Verizon didn't comment.