The Regulatory Commission of Alaska may make it mandatory for phone companies to publish online directories since the traditional paper versions were made optional last year.
Rep. Kurt Olson of Soldotna authored the bill to end phone book deliveries…
Rep. Olson(R-Soldotna): “And they end up piled up at the Post Offices or thrown away. So it’s opt-in now. You can get a phone book by opting-in, you’ll have them for the rest of your life, it’ll get mailed to you, but you don’t get them automatically. They tried it in five jurisdictions around the state for a one-year period or a two-year period and everybody likes it, so it was a no-brainer.”
With 44% of Alaskan households reporting that they have no landline, only cell phones, ACS and GCI agreed the move was in the state’s best interest. They say most customers use a third-party phone book or search online.
But when the RCA considered new requirements that the companies publish an online version of the phone book, updated every six months, the companies protested. They say it would be too time consuming and expensive to convert their archives.
Public comment is being taken on the matter through April 14 of 2017. Click here for the details.