SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Telephone companies and California counties have made hundreds of millions of dollars from some of the state’s poorest people through high, unregulated
phone rates for calls from local jails, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The average California county jail inmate’s local call home costs more than seven times as much as a 50-cent pay phone call. It adds up to more than $120 million a year in phone bills for families and friends of county inmates statewide. The inflated rates they pay make service contracts with jails so lucrative that carriers offer counties signing bonuses, nearly $17 million in the case of Los Angeles County.
For many, the cost of contact with loved ones is a hardship. And while counties are supposed to spend their share of the money on inmate welfare, the law gives sheriffs wide discretion and much of the money goes to salaries.
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Whether you have one or several hundred telephone lines, you should audit your service and usage to be sure you aren’t spending money unnecessarily.
The telecommunications audit begins with gathering your bills for both local and long distance service. If your Internet service is provided by your telephone company, you will need a copy of this bill also. While a collection of bills for one month is sufficient, bills from three or more months will give you a better idea of calling patterns and other necessary information to help in your audit. If your bills don’t list each number individually, contact your telephone company and request an itemized bill. An itemized bill will list each telephone number separately along with any related charges.
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By JENNIFER. C. KERR
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Friday imposed a six-month freeze on the rates regional phone companies may charge their competitors to use networks to provide local service.
The Federal Communications Commission’s temporary rules place on hold the rates the major regional companies — Verizon, SBC, Qwest and BellSouth — charge MCI, AT&T and other carriers.
The FCC needs time to come up with final rules on local competition. If the agency can’t meet the six-month deadline, the regionals would be free to increase lease rates by as much as 15 percent for existing customers and even more for new subscribers.
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KARACHI: TeleCard Pakistan Limited,
a telecommunication firm, said Saturday it will launch its
land-line operations in the country within a month. The company, which acquired wireless local loop (WLL) for all the 14 telecom regions of the country in an open bidding organised by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said it would complete all the other formalities within 30 days. „After completing all the legal formalities TeleCard plans to start service within 30 days,“ a company statement quoted Javaid Firoz, CEO TeleCard, as saying.
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