FCC Eyes Changes to Telco Customer Account Record Exchange

The FCC is considering whether to impose mandatory minimum information sharing requirements on all local and long-distance telephone companies in a bid to increase the accuracy of billing information and decrease consumer complaints.



AT&T, Sprint and MCI have jointly requested changes in The Customer Account Record Exchange (CARE) system, which is the voluntary industry standard for exchanging the customer information necessary to establish and maintain customer accounts, and to execute and confirm customer orders and customer transfers from one long distance carrier to another.



The CARE system was adopted by the industry after the break-up of AT&T. Local phone company would provide CARE data to the appropriate long distance company to ensure seamless provision of service to the customer. However, CARE data are not currently exchanged in a uniform manner and the number of local phone companies has increased significantly. The long distance providers argue that they are often left in the dark as to whether a customer remains on the network, has switched to another local or long distance company or has made changes to name/address records with the local provider. The end result can be customer complaints about double billing, continued billing, cramming, slamming and violations of truth-in-billing-requirements.



The FCC is seeking comment on whether to impose mandatory minimum CARE standards on all local and interexchange carriers. http://www.fcc.gov