Sprint was hit with a $7.5 million fine by the Federal Communications Commission for not complying with the Do Not Call Registry by sending consumers unwanted phone calls and text messages, according to The Associate Press. Sprint’s fine is the largest Do Not Call-related fine the FCC has ever handed out. That being said, Sprint will probably be OK, with its $8.88 billion in revenue last quarter.
Sprint will now face two years of oversight by the FCC, during which it must regularly report to the FCC to ensure compliance.
Sprint said in a statement that the problem “relates to issues resulting from technical and inadvertent human errors, which Sprint reported to the FCC. We have conducted a thorough, top-to-bottom evaluation of our Do Not Call data management systems, and significant capital investments have been made to improve our Do Not Call/SMS Message architecture, oversight and compliance.”
This is not the first fine Sprint has received for violating the Do Not Call Registry. In 2011, it received a $400,000 fine from the FCC for similar offenses.
The Do Not Call Registry was created in 2004 and allows consumers to add their phone number to a registry that telemarketers are not allowed to call. The law has become less relevant as cell phones have taken over land lines, since telemarketers are not allowed to contact cell phones to begin with.
