FCC partisan deadlock shields wireless companies from $200M fine, WSJ reports

Cellphone carriers who previously faced roughly $200M in fines for sharing their customers locations are now shielded from paying by the Federal Communications Commission’s, FCC, partisan deadlock, Drew FitzGerald of The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. telecom regulator has four commissioners and needs at least three votes to continue with the fines. Back in August, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated four forfeiture orders penalizing AT&T (T), Sprint, T-Mobile (TMUS), and Verizon (VZ) for mishandling access to real-time locations of their customers, sources said. The two Democratic telecom regulators have voted to approve the fines, but the two Republican regulators are yet to vote, sources added. Reference Link