Consumers can purchase a wide variety of telecommunications services through stores or the Internet, and purchase competing services from competing providers. The new market condition and concomitant potential for market abuse that exists in any market, raises issues about whether new methods are necessary to protect consumers. The recommendations contained within the following CPUC report would revise rules and traditional regulatory means to protect consumers in a competitive, yet regulated telecommunications marketplace. Existing problems are not being adequately addressed . Commission consumer protection rules contained in tariffs filed by utilities and approved by the Commission was designed for an era of monopoly regulation.
Tariffs are difficult for the public to access.
Tariffs often protect the utilities rather than consumers. Further, consumer protections vary between competitive service providers though the same consumer may purchase from these competing vendors. Because consumer protections differ depending on the telecommunication service provided, it is nearly impossible for consumers to understand their rights. Establish Consumer Protection Rules . An efficient method to publish consumer protection rules is to replace individualized rules for each class of telecommunications carriers with consumer protections applicable to all providers of competitive telecommunications services.