California Legislators and Consumer Activists Call upon CPUC for
Greater Oversight and Accountability of Carlos Slim's TracFone
Slim's Empire Continues to Gobble Up Companies
SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- On Tuesday, December 4,
Senator Kevin De León, Senator Ricardo Lara, Assemblymember Das
Williams, and representatives from the Consumer Federation
of California and TURN will join
the leaders of the movement Two Countries One Voice (TCOV).
The TCOV is dedicated to exposing the predatory and monopolistic
practices of Carlos Slim. They
will call upon the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
for a full investigation of TracFone during the CPUC's upcoming
evidentiary hearings from December
12-14. Slim – the richest man in the world – and his
conglomerate of telecommunications companies recently acquired
Simple Mobile without hearings or formal review by the CPUC.
Slim's company, TracFone, currently has a pre-paid cellular
customer base that is larger than that of Verizon Wireless,
AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile's. Now, with the
acquisition of Simple Mobile, TracFone has 22 million customers
nationwide – over 42 percent of the pre-paid cell phone market
share – making it the LARGEST prepaid mobile provider.
State Legislators will also discuss the introduction of
legislation that will better protect working families by ensuring
the CPUC has the authority and discretion to review all mergers –
including pre-paid cell phone services – when it is in the best
interest of the public.
DATE: Tuesday, December 4,
2012
TIME: 10AM PT
(Please Note New Time)
WHERE: California State Capitol
North Steps (L Street side)
WHO: Juan Jose Gutiérrez, Two Countries One
Voice & President of Vamos Unidos USA
Andres Ramirez, Two Countries One
Voice
Senator Kevin De León
Senator Ricardo Lara
Assemblymember Das Williams
Richard Holober, Executive Director,
Consumer Federation of California
Mark Toney, Executive Director,
TURN
Advocates from California Immigrant Policy Center
VISUAL: Large inflatable Carlos Slim/Pac-Man
BACKGROUND: Carlos Slim's power and fortune is made
up primarily from his monopoly on the Mexican telecommunications
system, which has overcharged billions of dollars to the Mexican
people, especially to the rural poor. The welfare loss
Mexico has endured is estimated at
$129 billion.
According to the independent and highly respected Organization
for Cooperation and Development (OECD), Slim's company,
America Movil, which controls nearly
80 percent of the total Mexican cell and landlines, charges
exorbitant prices and provides inadequate services. OECD's
report also shows that Slim has price-gouged Mexican
customers billions of dollars for basic telephone and
Internet service. They point out that those specifically and
most profoundly affected by these business practices are rural and
poor communities.
When Slim's company, TracFone, purchased California-based Simple Mobile in June 2012, the CPUC did not require hearings or
scrutiny of the acquisition. The law does not require the
CPUC to hold hearings and is prescriptive as to when the CPUC may
deem additional hearings necessary in the public interest.
In the United States, Slim has
four million TracFone customers participating in government phone
assistance programs. Slim has collected $10 per phone he provides to these consumers,
totaling a minimum of $38 million in
U.S. federal subsidies this year alone. Yet,
TracFone refuses to pay its share of the public services fee that
funds California's programs for
low income consumers. By some conservative estimates,
TracFone may be liable for $13
million in unpaid fees and additional penalties to the
CPUC.
SOURCE Two Countries One Voice