AT&T has asked the FCC to scrap a $100 million fine issued last month by the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) after the carrier was found to be throttling its “unlimited” data plans. It also claims that data throttling doesn’t harm anyone.
“The Commission’s findings that consumers and competition were harmed are devoid of factual support and wholly implausible,” AT&T wrote in a response to the FCC, according to a report from The Hill. “Its ‘moderate’ forfeiture penalty of $100 million is plucked out of thin air, and the injunctive sanctions it proposes are beyond the Commission’s authority.”
AT&T insists that customers were informed about its data throttling policy, and it argues that those on unlimited data plans were more likely to renew their contracts than those on non-unlimited data plans. It adds that the FCC is infringing its First Amendment rights by demanding that the company tells its customers that it violated an FCC rule, which AT&T believes is untrue.
The carrier also argues that the statute of limitations on the alleged violations has already passed.
AT&T no longer offers unlimited data plans, but it does have customers grandfathered into old unlimited plans. Initially, it was throttling those customers when they exceeded 5GB of LTE data usage, but back in May, it changed its policy to throttle them only when they are connected to a busy cell tower.
However, the FCC last months accused AT&T of “failing to sufficiently inform customers of the maximum speed they would receive under the Maximum Bit Rate policy.” It was fined $100 million to avoid “an astronomical figure,” but the actual fine could have been up to $16,000 per violation — and there are thought to be millions of violations.
[via Ars Technica]
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