TracFone Applauds Wireless Prepaid Access Device Enforcement Act
May 18 2009 - 11:42AM
PR Newswire (US)
WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TracFone President
and CEO FJ Pollak issued the following statement today in response
to the introduction of the "Wireless Prepaid Access Device
Enforcement Act of 2009" (H.R. 2449), introduced last Thursday in
the U.S. House of Representatives: "On behalf of the TracFone and
its consumers, I want to thank Representatives Anthony Weiner
(D-NY) and Daniel Lungren (R-CA) for their leadership, dedication
and continued commitment to defending prepaid wireless users across
the country from a tremendous threat to their ability to buy
affordable wireless phones and service. This pro-consumer
legislation has gained tremendous bipartisan support, and we are
pleased to see Congress moving ahead in the right direction to
prohibit fraud and related activity in connection with purchases of
certain wireless prepaid access devices. "There is a growing
concern of law enforcement and the wireless industry over large,
unauthorized bulk purchases of prepaid wireless phones. Organized
syndicates have taken advantage of prepaid phone subsidies by
buying hundreds, if not thousands, of prepaid phones at retail
outlets, modifying or 'hacking' out the software so that the phones
will not work as intended on U.S. wireless networks, and reselling
the phones overseas at a huge profit over their subsidized cost.
Annual losses for U.S. carriers are estimated to be in excess of
$200 million in subsidies that should have benefited the intended
U.S. wireless consumers. "The Wireless Prepaid Access Device
Enforcement Act of 2009 would make it a Federal crime to knowingly
purchase new prepaid handsets in the U.S. for the purpose of
modifying the phones' software which prevents their use as intended
on the U.S. carriers' networks for which they were manufactured and
sold (unless the manufacturer or the U.S. carrier authorized such
practice). The Act would also prohibit a person from knowingly
reselling or distributing new prepaid phones outside the U.S.
"TracFone continues to be a critical driver for growth in our
nation's economy by providing essential and affordable services
that help millions of Americans cut costs and increase productivity
and efficiency. We look forward to working with the sponsors and
all Members of Congress to see that this important legislation
becomes law." ABOUT TRACFONE WIRELESS, INC. TracFone Wireless, Inc.
is America's number one prepaid wireless service in the U.S. with
11.8 million cell phone subscribers. TracFone is a subsidiary of
America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. ("AMX") (BMV: AMX; NYSE: AMX; Nasdaq:
AMOV; LATIBEX: XAMXL), the leading provider of wireless services in
Latin America with more than 190 million subscribers. For more
information, please visit: http://www.tracfone.com/. DATASOURCE:
TracFone, Washington, D.C. CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell,
+1-703-276-3266, , for TracFone, Washington, D.C. Web Site:
http://www.tracfone.com/
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