CPNI Certification Due March 1, 2009
If you are a telecommunications carrier, your annual Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) compliance certification is due at the FCC on March 1, 2009. This certification requires the following exhibits: a statement explaining how your company’s operating procedures ensure compliance with the FCC’s CPNI rules to reflect the company’s policies and information; any statement of actions taken against data brokers; and a summary of customer complaints regarding unauthorized release of CPNI. A company officer with personal knowledge that the company has established operating procedures adequate to ensure compliance with the rules must also execute the certification, and place a copy of the certification and accompanying exhibits in the company’s CPNI Compliance Records.
What is CPNI?
SearchNetworking.com defines CPNI as follows:
In the United States, CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) is information that telecommunications services such as local, long distance, and wireless telephone companies acquire about their subscribers. It includes not only what services they use but their amount and type of usage. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 together with clarifications from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) generally prohibits the use of that information without customer permission, even for the purpose of marketing the customers other services . In the case of customers who switch to other service providers, the original service provider is prohibited from using the information to try to get the customer back. CPNI includes such information as optional services subscribed to, current charges, directory assistance charges, usage data, and calling patterns.
The CPNI rules do not prohibit the gathering and publishing of aggregate customer information nor the use of customer information for the purpose of creating directories.
