New Networks Institute To Read the Petition   BRUCE KUSHNICK, 212-777-5418 bruce@newnetworks.com JUNE 28, 2000 Another Mystery Phone Bill Charge…   YOU PAY FOR IT, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU Phone Customers Are Paying $300 Million Annually For "Portability" Charges On Their Bill, Yet In Most Cases Can't Keep Their Phone Number When They Move New York City: New Networks Institute filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission today requesting a mandate that the local Bell companies and GTE allow customers to retain their existing phone number when they relocate. Otherwise, the companies should cease the current FCC related "portability" charge on customer phone bills, which generates an estimated $300 million annually for the local phone companies in America. "It is a little known fact that virtually every phone customer in America has been hit with a mandated FCC charge, ranging from 23-50 cents per line, per month, to supposedly pay for number "portability" or the ability to keep a phone number when they switch to a competitive local phone provider. Unfortunately, this charge does not allow a customer to take their phone number when they move down the block" stated Bruce Kushnick, executive director of New Networks Institute. America, in many ways, has become a portable society. According to numerous reports, somewhere between 15-25% of the population relocates each year. However, the phone-numbering plan has remained in the 20th century and is still a static network. Area codes are still based primarily on geography, and phone number assignments are almost at the street by street assignment. "These hassles are unfair, unreasonable and unnecessary," Kushnick added. "Businesses whose livelihood is linked to their phone number get trapped into call forwarding fees and additional overhead in changing their business numbers. This is just one more example of the Baby Bells price gouging consumers for services they really don't offer. All of this to improve on their already exorbitant profit margins." Kushnick further argued that since 'digital network switches' were mostly paid for by the phone customer, the movement of a phone number should be a given right of the customer. "There is no longer a need for a phone number and a location to be tied to each other. One has only to look at the registration of the Internet domain names to realize that a name of a web site has nothing to do with the location of that site. We talk about digital-this and high-speed-that, but the phone companies can't even deliver on the simplest of network upgrades. This should be a right, not a privilege," Kushnick concluded. A copy of the NNI petition and other related materials can be found at www.newnetworks.com. For more information or to schedule an interview contact Bruce Kushnick 212-777-5418.