FCC Investigates Verizon Fee

Last week, I wrote about Verizon's plan to keep charging customers a fee after the government dropped a mandatory DSL surcharge. According to a recent CNET News.com article, this plan caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission and they are planning to question the new charge.

Verizon, along with BellSouth, who is also planning on charging a similar fee, will be sent "letters of inquiry" to see whether the new charge complies with Federal Communications Commission rules that require "truth in billing," the source said on the condition of anonymity.

The companies no longer have to pay a part of their high-speed Internet revenue into the Universal Service Fund (USF), which subsidizes communications services to schools, lower-income households and rural areas, as of Aug. 14. They had passed that USF cost onto their customers. An FCC decision a year ago phased out the USF fee for the telephone companies' high-speed Internet service.

However, Verizon said it would impose a new monthly surcharge of $1.20 or $2.70, beginning Aug. 26, which it said was to help subsidize connection costs. BellSouth said it has continued charging $2.97 a month, equivalent to the old USF fee.

AT&T was not expected to receive a letter from the FCC, said a CNET News.com source. Letters of inquiry are typically the first step in an agency investigation into whether enforcement action is warranted. A spokeswoman for the FCC and Verizon spokesman Brian Blevins declined to comment, while a BellSouth spokesman had no immediate comment.