IRREGULATORS VS FCC

MARCH 16th, 2020:  PRESS RELEASE:  IRREGULATORS BIG WIN: We Freed the States to Get the Money Back from AT&T, Verizon & CenturyLink. 

March 13th, 2020: The DC Court of Appeals issued an Opinion.

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On January 17th, 2020, the IRREGULATORS v FCC Oral Arguments was heard in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals,

Counsel: W. Scott McCollough, Esq.

  • PRESS RELEASE: ORAL ARGUMENTS SET FOR IRREGULATORS V FCC

  • PRESS RELEASE: IRREGULATORS v FCC Moves Forward: Billions of Dollars Per State are in Play. 10/10/19

  • PODCASTS: WHY IRREGULATORS v FCC is Critical

  • On October 10th, 2019, the IRREGULATORS responded to the FCC claims that our case is meritless, and that we don’t have the right to even take this case.

  • On October 3rd, 2019, the IRREGULATORS discussed why this case, IRREGULATORS vs FCC is critical for America’s communications future, from tackling Net Neutrality and the Digital Divide, to lowering prices and bringing in competition. We also discussed that 5G Wireless is a bait and switch; the service is not profitable and will do more harm to America than good.

  • September 12th, 2019

    FCC RESPONDS TO IRREGULATORS CHALLENGE, 

  • NEW: FCC has until September 12th, to Respond to the Brief

  • July 22nd, 2019,

  • PRESS RELEASE: On July 22nd, 2019, the IRREGULATORS filed our initial brief with the DC Court of Appeals against the FCC’s accounting rules.

  • NEW: On July 22nd, 2019, the IRREGULATORS filed our initial brief with the DC Court of Appeals against the FCC’s accounting rules.

June 3rd, 2019

Read the PRESS RELEASE On June 3rd, 2019, the FCC DID NOT CHALLENGE the IRREGULATORS’s right to take the FCC to court and the case will proceed.

May 20th, 2019,  VIEW OUR AFFIDAVITS:

On May 20th, 2019, the IRREGULATORS filed a series of separate affidavits, as well as a group summary, asking the US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, to grant us ‘standing’, the right to take the FCC to court. By June 3rd, 2019, the FCC and most likely the phone companies, AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink, and the groups, individuals and associations, etc. that are funded by these companies, will file to deny us the right to take this case.

On April 15th, 2019, the IRREGULATORS filed to stop an FCC decision that tries to bury one of the largest accounting scandals in American history. It is directly tied to AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink’s state-based utilities.

NOTE: We go to court on May 20th, 2019. In order continue this case (as the FCC does not pay lawyer or consultant fees, much less damages), we are raising money and looking for partners to continue this appeal and take other proactive actions–now.

This is probably one of the most bizarre cases you ever heard of. Unbelievably, the FCC ‘froze’ the cost accounting rules that divide up the expenses of the different lines of business that use the AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink state-based telecommunications infrastructure – the state-based utilities– to reflect the year 2000 –19 years ago.

This action was designed to put the majority of all expenses into the basic POTS service and it made the entire wired telecommunications networks in America to appear to be unprofitable. This has cost customers billions per year in additional fees and rate increases, it was used claim that rural areas were unprofitable, so the companies could get out obligations to upgrade to fiber optics, and now, after the takeover of the FCC, the plan is to ‘shut off the copper’, and force-march customers onto wireless — because it make them more money — and the construction budgets are paid by local phone customers.

And in December, 2018, the FCC decided to extend the Freeze another 6 years, until 2024 with no audits, investigations, or even an acknowledgement that there are still state utilities or that these deformed accounting rules are still in use.

Unfortunately, almost no one knows that there are still state utilities left or that these are no longer the copper wired networks but due to the FREEZE, Verizon et al. were able to have their other lines of business — Verizon’s fiber-to-the-home, FiOS, or even Verizon Wireless or Business Data Services, all use the construction budgets of the state utility and got the rights of way.

5G Wireless and the other wireless services will all be ‘cross-subsidized’ and charged to customers using the wireline networks.

WHY TAKE THIS CASE? The TREASURE MAP! Billions for Broadband in Your State and Refunds on Your Communications Bills.

Proving that the accounting has been rigged, the goal is to stop the multi-billion dollar cross-subsidy scheme to  lower rates on all services and add billions for new fiber optic construction in the state utilities.

And we have IRREFUTABLE Evidence: Verizon New York 2017 Annual Report was published in June 2018; in July 2018, there was a settlement of an investigation of Verizon NY. Estimated to be $300-$500 million, the company had to put in 32,000 lines of fiber optics and maintain and repair the existing, deteriorating copper networks in un-upgraded areas.

CLICK TO READ THE ACTUAL VERIZON NY ANNUAL  REPORT AND OUR “WALK THROUGH”— BY THE NUMBERS.

This FCC has been captured by AT&T, Verizon CenturyLink and the cable companies and it has to be stopped. We believe that this case– to go directly after the corrupted accounting —  is unique and can be used to take on the FCC in all of the current proceedings. It also will assist in starting to take back the state utilities that are being dismantled.

The IRREGULATORS: An Independent, Expert Telecom Team

The IRREGULATORS is an independent, expert Telecom Team comprised of senior telecom experts, analysts, forensic auditors, and lawyers who are former senior staffers from the FCC, state advocate and Attorneys General Office experts and lawyers, as well as former telco consultants.

READ OUR FILINGS AND REPORTS