Editorial: Getting attention of a phone giant

Wednesday, June 7, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

WorldCom, the long-distance telephone company, agreed Tuesday to pay a $3.5 million penalty as part of its settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, which alleged WorldCom had engaged in slamming, the practice of switching a customer's telephone carrier without his permission.

While this is the highest fine for slamming ever collected by the FCC, it is possible that WorldCom -- a giant in the industry -- may see this as nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Still, it is encouraging that the FCC also required the company to significantly beef up its own consumer protection guidelines in a bid to prevent this from happening again.

For the most part, consumers have done well under telephone deregulation, as a generation of new products and lower prices have been available for customers. But the continued presence of slamming demonstrates why there is a need for tough consumer protections.

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