Remarks of Commissioner Clyburn at Consumer Advisory Committee

In July, Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) and I penned an Op-Ed which articulated a simple principle: consumers should know exactly what they will pay before they get their first month’s bill – and, in fact, this should be known and clear before being asked to provide sensitive personal information. We called on the nation’s communications providers to lead the way by voluntarily improving transparency and disclosure of these “below the line” fees so that when consumers sign up for service, either online or in-store, they will not have to wait for their first bill to learn what their service truly costs. So I am extremely pleased that three months later, the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee “No Surprises Task Force” has come up with a series of recommendations that address these very concerns.

Implementing these recommendations would be a huge win for consumers and an opportunity for providers to show how committed they are to putting customers first. So once again, to the Task Force, the Consumer Advisory Committee and the staff of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, thank you for your tireless efforts on such an important consumer issue and as always, thank you for being a voice for those too seldom heard.