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Verizon slapped with $1.25m fine

Joanne Carew
By Joanne Carew, ITWeb Cape-based contributor.
Johannesburg, 02 Aug 2012

Verizon slapped with $1.25m fine

Verizon Wireless will pay $1.25 million to settle a regulatory probe into whether it blocked customer access to mobile broadband applications on Android phones, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Tuesday, Reuters reports

The US telecommunications regulator said the payment stemmed from a probe into whether Verizon Wireless, the biggest US mobile service provider, had complied with rules governing spectrum used for high-speed wireless services.

Fierce Wireless quotes FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, as saying: “Today's action demonstrates that compliance with FCC obligations is not optional. The open device and application obligations were core conditions when Verizon purchased the C-block spectrum.

“The massive innovation and investment fuelled by the Internet have been driven by consumer choice in both devices and applications. The steps taken today will not only protect consumer choice, but defend certainty for innovators to continue to deliver new services and apps without fear of being blocked.”

Verizon Wireless offers customers its 4G LTE service on C-block spectrum. Verizon Wireless bid at auction to acquire that spectrum, understanding that it was accompanied by open device and application obligations.

Specifically, licensees offering service on C-block spectrum “shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee's C-block network,” subject to narrow exceptions.

According to PC Advisor, Verizon Wireless' terms of service required all customers who wanted to use their phones for tethering to subscribe to the company's Mobile Broadband Connect service, at an additional charge.

Verizon Wireless said the additional fee was because customers who tether laptops or other devices have the capability to use more data capacity than others. But Verizon Wireless, at the time, required all customers, including those who paid incrementally for data use, to pay the fee, the FCC said.

As part of the agreement, Verizon will notify app stores that it no longer objects to third-party tethering apps, the FCC said.

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