FCC Record, Volume 18, No. 20, Pages 13620 to 14178, Special Issue Page: 14,115

                                
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B.         Discussion
1.     Telemarketing Calls to Wireless Numbers
165.   We affirm that under the TCPA, it is unlawful to make any call using an
automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded message to any wireless
telephone number.603 Both the statute and our rules604 prohibit these calls, with limited
exceptions, "to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service,
specialized mobile radio service, or other common carrier service, or any service for which the
called party is charged."605 This encompasses both voice calls and text calls to wireless numbers
including, for example, short message service (SMS) calls, provided the call is made to a
telephone number assigned to such service.606 Congress found that automated or prerecorded
telephone calls were a greater nuisance and invasion of privacy than live solicitation calls.607
Moreover, such calls can be costly and inconvenient.608 The Commission has long recognized,
and the record in this proceeding supports the same conclusion, that wireless customers are
charged for incoming calls whether they pay in advance or after the minutes are used.609 Wireless
subscribers who purchase a large "bucket" of minutes at a fixed rate nevertheless are charged for
those minutes, and for any minutes that exceed the "bucket" allowance. This "bucket" could be
exceeded more quickly if consumers receive numerous unwanted telemarketing calls.610
Moreover, as several commenters point out, telemarketers have no way to determine how
consumers are charged for their wireless service.
603 See 47 U.S.C.  227(b)(l), which provides that it is "unlawful for any person within the United States to make
any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party)
using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice ... to any telephone number
assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common
carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call."
604 47 C.F.R.  64.1200(a)(1)(iii).
605 47 U.S.C.  227(b)(1)(A)(iii).
606 SMS, for example, "provides the ability for users to send and receive text messages to and from mobile
handsets with maximum message length ranging from 120 to 500 characters." Section 6002(B) of the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, 17 FCC Rcd 12985, 13051 (2002).
607 TCPA, Section 2(10), reprinted in 7 FCC Rcd at 2744. The TCPA prohibits the initiation of any telephone call
to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior
express consent of the called party, unless the call is for emergency purposes or is exempted by Commission rule
or order. See 47 U.S.C.  227(b)(1)(B).
608 See, e.g., Verizon Wireless Comments at 11; J. Shaw Comments at 5; NAAG Comments at 40-41.
609 See, e.g., AT&T Wireless Comments at 24.
610 Consistent with our determination in 1992, calls made by cellular carriers to their subscribers, for which
subscribers are not charged in any way for the call (either on a per minute, per call, or as a reduction in their
"bucket" of minutes) are not prohibited under the TCPA. See Verizon Wireless Comments at 11 (noting that for
"bucket" plans, exceeding the bucket allowance is not unusual).

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Federal Communications Commission

FCC 03-153