AT&T; Wireless May Face FCC Fine
AT&T; Wireless Services Inc. may have to pay a $2.2-million penalty for failing to install equipment needed to track locations of customers’ emergency calls.
The Federal Communications Commission proposed the fine because the company missed an October deadline to upgrade part of its network so police can find callers. AT&T; Wireless also didn’t sell handsets needed for the location system, the FCC said on its Internet site.
The third-biggest U.S. mobile-phone company should have notified the agency that it couldn’t meet the requirements, the FCC said. Verizon Wireless Inc. and other rivals also missed the installation deadline because gear that tracks 911 calls wasn’t sold by manufacturers. Those carriers weren’t penalized because they asked the FCC for an extension before October.
“We plan to vigorously contest this,” AT&T; Wireless spokeswoman Rochelle Cohen said. “We are as frustrated as anyone by these vendor delays.”
The company has 30 days to pay the fine or tell the agency why the penalty should be reduced or waived.
Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T; Wireless fell 42 cents, or 5.4%, to $7.43 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have fallen 48% this year.
Verizon Wireless, a venture of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group of Britain, is the largest U.S. mobile-phone company. Cingular Wireless, a venture of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., is the second biggest.
