BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                                   1
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             SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                            DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
          

          SB 1903 -  O'Connell                                    
          Hearing Date:  April 9, 2002         S
          As Introduced:  February 22, 2002       FISCAL           B

                                                                       
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                                   DESCRIPTION
           
           Current federal law  permits states to establish customer  
          service rules for cellular telephone companies.

           This bill  requires cellular telephone companies to provide  
          customers with a way to obtain current information on their  
          calling plans and usage.  

           This bill  requires the California Public Utilities  
          Commission (CPUC) to adopt appropriate regulations.

                                    BACKGROUND
           
          Most cellular telephone service plans include a specified  
          number of minutes of service in the monthly price.  Minutes  
          beyond that specified number are subject to additional,  
          relatively high charges, which not surprisingly, motivate  
          customers to try and keep close track of their usage.  For  
          example, a typical plan might cost $39.99/month, which  
          includes up to 400 minutes of service (10 cents a minute if  
          the customer uses all 400 minutes), but that 401st minute  
          and every minute of usage after that may cost customers 40  
          cents apiece. 

          Many cellular phones can track minutes of use, but that  
          tracking isn't what the cellular carrier bases the  











               customer's bill on.  Rather, cellular carriers rely on  
               their own internal billing systems to track usage. 

               This bill doesn't specify a method by which the cellular  
               telephone companies have to provide their customers with  
               current usage information.  While computerized access via  
               the cellular telephone is the most obvious means, such  
               information could also be made available via the Internet  
               or through a call to the cellular carrier's customer  
               service center.  The details of how that information is  
               provided to customers is appropriately left to the CPUC.

               Giving customers access to their current account  
               information isn't an uncommon practice.  Many credit card  
               companies, banks, and long distance telephone companies  
               provide customers with up-to-date information on their  
               account balances via telephone or the Internet.





































                                     COMMENTS
           
           1.How "current" is "current"?   The bill requires that  
            subscribers be able to obtain "current" information on  
            their usage.  If "current" means "real-time," such a  
            requirement is obviously more difficult to meet than if  
            "current" means, for example, "as of 5:00 p.m.  
            yesterday."  

            The precise meaning of that term will likely have a  
            bearing on the cost and feasibility of meeting the  
            requirement.  Some cellular carriers, such as Sprint PCS,  
            already provide customers with access to their usage  
            information through the phone and via the Internet,  
            though that information is not guaranteed to be  
            "real-time."   The author and committee may wish to  
            consider  providing some guidance to the CPUC by replacing  
            the term "current" with something akin to "as of 5:00  
            p.m. on the prior business day."

           2.How quickly should the CPUC be required to act?   The  
            effective date of the bill is January 1, 2003, but the  
            measure doesn't specify a timeframe in which the CPUC has  
            to complete its work.   The author and committee may wish  
            to consider setting a date by which the CPUC should have  
            to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of this  
            measure.  Providing the Commission with a year to  
            complete this work is reasonable and consistent with  
            deadlines for CPUC action established in other statutes.

                                    POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          None of file

           Oppose:
           
          Sprint Communications Company











               






               Randy Chinn 
               SB 1903 Analysis
               Hearing Date:  April 9, 2002