The fight between the Illinois government and telephone companies is

not over yet.

Although the Illinois Wireless Consumer Protection Act (HB0827) has

been killed off in the legislature, State Rep. James Brosnahan, D-Oak

Lawn, plans on supporting a rewrite of the Telecommunications Act.

Brosnahan was not able to specify details of the bill at this point,

but he said he will know more in the weeks to come.

If it had been enacted, the Wireless Consumer Protection Act would

have required cell phone companies to supply the terms of their

contracts for service and other specified information for consumers.

This information would have also been included in publications and

advertisements.

Although he said he couldn’t go into details, Brosnahan did mention

disagreement between the Illinois Telecommunications Association and

the state legislature.

Regardless of the fact that Brosnahan received complaints of dropped

calls and dead zones from his constituents, he does not plan to

reintroduce with the bill in the coming weeks.

The bill was one vote short of passing when it was first introduced.

Douglas A. Dougherty, president of the Telecommunications Association,

said the association brought a together a coalition of wireless

companies and discussed how HB0827 would have affected the wireless

industry.

He believes the cause of the bill not being reinstated is mainly

because of market-based enhancements to the wireless industry.

Dougherty said the cell phone market is free to change and adapt

independently of state action and that this bill would have brought in

unnecessary regulations.

“What Verizon Wireless is now saying is that if you’re 18 months into

your two-year contract, you’re only liable for a certain percentage of

that, say one-quarter,” Dougherty said. “So I think that’s another

indication in a competitive marketplace; the industry self regulates

itself.”

A new bill will be introduced between now and May.

Unlike HB0827, which mainly dealt with protecting consumer’s rights,

Brosnahan said a new revision of the Telecommunications Act will deal

more with landline phones and cell phone provisions.

Though Dougherty said he has not yet discussed the bill with

Brosnahan, he does not believe at this point there needs to be any

more governmental action than what is currently enforced through the

Federal Communications Commission.