TeleAdvice.com

[Dan Carpenter]

CPNI

Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is the data collected by telecommunications companies about a consumer's telephone calls. It includes the time, date, duration and destination number of each call, the type of network a consumer subscribes to, and any other information that appears on the consumer's telephone bill.

There has been a lot of confusion about CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) requirements by your carriers. Many carriers have elected to use the new requirements, set forth by the FCC, to deceive their customers into signing waivers to allow their information to be shared with affiliates, under the subterfuge of being “required by the FCC” to get our customers to sign this form. Although, like with many Government intrusions, it is difficult to provide a simplified explanation; here is our attempt to summarize the new rules.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires telecommunications service providers and interconnected VOIP providers to file a certification each year by March 1 stating whether they are in compliance with the FCC's Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) rules. The certification must include a statement demonstrating compliance in specific categories.

The CPNI rules generally relate to the use of a customer's call detail and other service-related information for marketing or other purposes unrelated to the provision of service, and contain restrictions on when such information can be accessed and whether it can be given to a third party like a marketing agency, an affiliate or other company. In general, carriers must obtain a customer's approval to use their information for purposes unrelated to the provision of service, although in some cases the approval can be assumed unless the customer "opts out" of the use of their information. In cases of access to data that is personally identifiable, such as names and addresses, customer approval is generally always required and customers are never deemed to have automatically "opted-in."

There is an exception to the CPNI rules for business customers, but the exception requires a dedicated account manager be assigned to a customer and that the contract with the customer contain comparable waivers or notices regarding access to CPNI.

A more detailed narrative of the order can be found at the link below:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/phoneaboutyou.html

The following is the link to the FCC order:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-22A1.pdf


Thus, the new CPNI FCC requirements have nothing to do with the provisioning of your services and do not supersede any LOA’s that you may have with other parties. The FCC’s recent CPNI Order does not revise all CPNI rules. The carriers may have specific internal CPNI requirements that may be required for release and sharing of this information; but it is unrelated to the FCC ruling.