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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
May 19, 2014 Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253
E-mail: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov
SPRINT TO PAY $7.5 MILLION FOR UNWANTED MARKETING CALLS AND TEXTS IN RECORD DO-NOT-CALL SETTLEMENT
Company Will Implement a Two-Year Compliance Plan
Washington, DC - Sprint Corporation will pay $7.5 million to resolve an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation of the mobile wireless company's failure to honor consumer requests to opt out of phone and text marketing communications.
This represents the largest Do-Not-Call settlement that the FCC has ever reached. In addition to the $7.5 million payment, Sprint will implement a two-year plan to ensure compliance with FCC requirements designed to protect consumer privacy and prevent consumers from receiving unwanted telemarketing calls. This follows a 2011 settlement with Sprint arising from complaints that Sprint made telemarketing calls to consumers who had requested to be placed on the company's Do-Not-Call list.
"We expect companies to respect the privacy of consumers who have opted out of marketing calls," said Travis LeBlanc, Acting Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. "When a consumer tells a company to stop calling or texting with promotional pitches, that request must be honored. Today's settlement leaves no question that protecting consumer privacy is a top enforcement priority."
In its consent decree with the Enforcement Bureau, Sprint has agreed to:
* Make a payment of $7.5 million to the U.S. Treasury;
* Develop and put into action a robust compliance plan designed, among other things, to help ensure future compliance with the FCC's rules requiring companies to maintain internal Do-Not-Call lists and honor consumers' requests;
* Develop operating procedures and policies specifically designed to ensure that Sprint's operations comply with all company-specific Do-Not-Call rules;
* Designate a senior corporate manager as a Compliance Officer to ensure that Sprint complies with the terms and conditions of the compliance plan and the consent decree;
* Implement a training program to ensure that Sprint employees and contractors are properly trained how to record consumers' Do-Not-Call requests so that the company removes their names and numbers from marketing lists;
* Report to the FCC any noncompliance with respect to consumers' Do-Not-Call requests; and
* File with the FCC an initial compliance report within 90 days and annual reports for two years.
In 2011, Sprint paid $400,000 to the U.S. Treasury as part of a consent decree resolving an investigation into consumer complaints that Sprint had made marketing calls to consumers who had asked to be placed on Sprint's internal Do-Not-Call list.
Since 2003, Americans have been able to opt out of receiving most telemarketing calls by putting their phone numbers on the National Do-Not-Call Registry. Consumers can register their phone numbers on the Do-Not-Call registry for free, and they will remain on the list until the consumer removes them or discontinues service - there is no need to re-register numbers. The Do-Not-Call registry does not prevent all unwanted calls. It does not cover the following:
* Calls from organizations with which you have established a business relationship;
* Calls for which you have given prior written permission;
* Calls which are not commercial or do not include unsolicited advertisements;
* Calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations.
Subscribers may register their residential telephone number, including wireless numbers, on the national Do-Not-Call registry by telephone or by Internet at no cost.
Consumers can register on-line for the national Do-Not-Call registry by going to www.donotcall.gov [HYPERLINK: http://www.donotcall.gov/]. To register by telephone, consumers may call 1-888-382-1222: for TTY call 1-866-290-4236. The consumer must call from the phone number he or she wishes to register.
The Consent Decree is available at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-527A1.docx.
The 2011 Consent Decree is available at: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-843A2.pdf.
-FCC-