The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) has directed Ameritech Michigan, a telecommunications local exchange carrier (LEC) to discontinue its advertising campaign for a special program billed as a protection against "slamming" (em i.e., switching a customer's long-distance service without their knowledge or consent. A bill insert had urged customers to sign up for the program, and guaranteed that the LEC would not permit any changes to an account unless notified by the customer by telephone or in writing.
Interexchange carriers (IXCs) operating in the state complained that the LEC might use the program to delay customer requests to change providers and as "an opportunity to try and dissuade the customer from leaving Ameritech Michigan's service." They had also claimed that the bill insert was deliberately timed to predate implementation of intraLATA presubscription in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.