Principles

CALTEL members believe that the way to grow their businesses is to provide outstanding service to their customers.  CALTEL members believe that slamming or cramming are counter to their own interests, both in the short term and in the long term. Because of these beliefs, the CALTEL board of Directors has adopted the following

CALTEL Members will adhere to the following principles:

(A) Members will not submit orders for provisioning without customer authorization, or participate in "slamming", "cramming", or "sliding" activities.

(B) Members will provide accurate and timely billing and customer service and subscribe to the concept of "truth in billing".

(C) Members will respond to subscriber service inquiries and complaints expeditiously and honestly, and will work in good faith to resolve subscriber concerns to the subscriber's satisfaction.

(D) Members will make available upon request, accurate and clearly understandable service rates, terms and conditions to the public.

(E) Members will fulfill their regulatory obligations and cooperate fully with all regulatory agencies.

(F) Members' advertising and promotional materials will accurately, honestly and clearly represent their company products and services as actually provided.

(G) Members will accept responsibility for representations made on behalf of their company by employees or agents.

(H) Members will treat competitors with respect, refraining from making any disparaging comments, accusations, unfavorable implications or providing misleading information about a competitor's rates or service.

(I) Members will adhere to the Bylaws of CALTEL.

2009 Regulatory and Legislative Initiatives

Adopt CALTEL's "Price Cap Proposal" to update AT&T and Verizon UNE Rates

- As a proposed condition of the AT&T/SBC and MCI/Verizon mergers in 2005, and in the CPUC's UNE proceeding in 2006, CALTEL filed a comprehensive proposal to adopt a "price cap" model approach for updates to ILEC UNE rates and avoiding resource-intensive cost cases that no longer make sense given the evolution of ILEC networks

- In December, 2008, CALTEL reached ground-breaking agreements with AT&T and Verizon California on adjustment mechanisms that would essentially freeze rates for 6-7 years 

- The California PUC adopted an order in February, 2009 incorporating these settlements and making them binding for all carriers operating in California 

AT&T and Verizon Wholesale Service Performance "Backsliding"

-CALTEL intends to address degradation of ILEC "last-mile" provisioning and maintenance performance in bilateral discussions and possible regulatory action

Telecom or Small Business-Affecting Regulation and Legislation 

-CALTEL will continue to work with industry coalitions, PUC Commissioners and staff, and members of the legislature to advocate on behalf of its member companies and their customers