The FCC has entered into a consent decree with T-Mobile to resolve an investigation into the company’s failure to disclose its data throttling policies applicable to customers that purchased unlimited data plans (UDPs). The investigation revealed that during periods of contention (high demand) T-Mobile de-prioritized the data usage of its UDP customers who exceeded certain thresholds of data usage. The Commission also found that T-Mobile’s public disclosures failed to identify the data usage threshold that would trigger application of the policy, did not explain how the policy could impact a de-prioritized customer’s ability to use their service, or discuss the data throughput speed reduction a de-prioritized customer could experience. To settle this matter, T-Mobile committed to: (i) update its customer disclosures; (ii) either refrain from using the term”unlimited” or clearly and conspicuously reveal material restrictions on the amount and speed of data on all advertising and marketing materials; (iii) provide direct notification to customers when their data usage is nearing the de-prioritization threshold; (iv) make available at least $35,500,000 in customer discounts and benefits; (v) spend at least $5,000,000 in benefits to low income school districts; and (vi) pay a $7,500,000 civil penalty.
