Wireless Provider Communications Continue to Enhance the Customer Experience

Wireless service is central to how Americans live, work, learn, and play. CTIA's members understand this and are constantly innovating and investing to improve their service and their customers' experience, including through communication with customers about their wireless plans and aspects of their service, such as:

• Safety-related alerts about service disruptions, natural disasters, or other events;
• Notices regarding potential fraud, significant account changes, or other privacy- or security-related matters;
• Warnings about roaming, data overages, or upcoming bills; and
• Information about current service features, such as robocall or robotext mitigation tools.

Messages like these are a key part of how providers communicate with their customers about account-related updates, many of which are time-sensitive. And the Commission has in many cases urged wireless providers to provide direct messages to consumers in order to enhance their welfare. The great majority of consumers say that these communications from their wireless provider are useful (Morning Consult survey). The FCC has long recognized the importance to wireless consumers of receiving these updates, and its existing policy should remain in place as it has proven effective in ensuring customers are fully informed.

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Given the vibrant competition in the wireless market, providers take care to balance the need to send relevant communications to their subscribers with the need to ensure consumers are receiving the messages they want and not those they don't. Wireless consumers report that they appreciate these messages and also understand how to customize the communications they receive from their provider.

The benefits consumers get from these kinds of messages are borne out by the data. A recent Morning Consult survey shows that consumers overwhelmingly support receiving these messages.

Take, for example, warnings aboutinternational roaming. In the Morning Consult survey, 85% of respondents agreed that a reminder about potential international roaming charges was helpful. These messages reduce the risk that consumers may inadvertently incur roaming charges or receive a higher-than-anticipated monthly bill, as the FCC correctly determined in its proceeding to prevent bill shock.

Consumers also strongly support receiving warnings regarding data or minute limits. Specifically, about 70% of prepaid subscribers found these notifications helpful, as well as messages notifying them how to purchase more data or minutes.

This strong support for notifications regarding data or minute limits should come as no surprise. Because they do not receive a monthly bill, prepaid subscribers often do not provide wireless service providers with another way of reaching them, such as an email or billing address. Therefore, their wireless service is often the only means by which prepaid subscribers can receive communications that help them stay connected and avoid service interruptions. Prepaid service is often a preferred option for consumers that need a lower cost plan, making these communications even more important.

In addition to roaming notifications and warnings about data or minute limits, Morning Consult survey data indicates that consumers also appreciate receiving other types of service-related messages, including:

• Suspected Fraud: About 75% of respondents found such notifications useful.
• Potential Loss of Service: Over 70% of respondents would be concerned if they lost wireless service without first receiving a call or text message from their wireless service provider.
• Missed Payment and Potential Late Fees: About 70% of respondents found messages about missed payments and avoiding late fees useful.
• Robocall and Robotext Protections: About two-thirds of respondents found messages notifying them about new features to help stop illegal or unwanted robocalls and robotexts useful.
• Options for Discounted Service: Nearly 90% of respondents felt that messages about the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program were valuable, with 80% appreciating information about alternative affordable plans to replace their ACP benefits. There was especially strong support among prepaid customers (over 80% found these messages helpful).

As shown by the data, these and other related messages from wireless service providers to their customers are benefiting consumers and helping support and enhance their wireless experience. These messages are also key communication tools to make sure customers continue to receive service because they provide information on plan changes, including roaming information, fraud alerts, and potential loss of service.

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Given the critical role of wireless service in today's connected life, it is more important than ever that wireless service providers maintain the flexibility to effectively reach their customers and address each customer's needs. The FCC's long-standing, flexible framework of governance for these types of communications has resulted in a system that customers like, where they can receive the service-related notifications that matter to them, at no charge, and providers can share updates quickly and effectively to protect and inform customers.

If the framework was more limited and less flexible, it would risk confusion and missed messages, which could lead to consumer harm.

The messages enabled by the framework provide valuable information about consumers' wireless plan costs, usage limits, and service options. Straying from the current practice by requiring opt-out mechanisms would risk denying account-related notifications and other time-sensitive communications to subscribers who opt out. Morning Consult survey data showed that consumers would rather make sure they received all communications about things like fraud alerts, bill reminders, missed payments, and data use than risk missing them by opting out.

Survey results also show that changing the framework for these kinds of messages risks causing confusion for consumers, as consumers have differing expectations for what constitutes a wanted message and how that should be communicated to providers. Because these communications are so tailored to the unique customer and account, implementing opt-out is especially challenging and risks confusion, or worse, consumer harm due to missed messages. Indeed, Morning Consult's survey of 2,200 consumers found that every single respondent had a different expectation of what "opt-out" means. The current framework enables the flexibility for wireless providers to meet widely varying consumer needs and enhance the customer experience.

CTIA is proud to support the wireless industry's efforts to send important, service-related messages to their subscribers as well as other initiatives that support consumers' needs and expectations, while advancing FCC priorities to protect and help consumers.