Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI)

Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) is highly sensitive information that is extremely personal to customers. CPNI is the individually identifiable information that is created by a customer's relationship with a communications provider. Examples of CPNI include, but may not be limited to:

  • Details about calls made and received, including the amount billed by a long distance carrier
  • Carrier information such as the customer's Preferred Interexchange Carrier (PIC)
  • The types of services a customer subscribes to and how much they use these services

Effective December 8, 2007, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) enacted rules that require telecommunications carriers to take specific steps to ensure that customer information is protected from unauthorized disclosure.

From www.FCC.gov:

The FCC prohibits your telephone company from releasing your customer information to you when you call the company except when you provide a password. If you do not provide a password, your telephone company may not release your customer information to you except by sending it to your address of record or calling you at your telephone number of record. If you come in person with valid identification to a company store or office, your company can provide you all your customer information.

To comply with these FCC rules, HTC is required to use one of the following methods to authenticate the customer prior to releasing any specific information regarding a customer's account - including providing a copy of an HTC billing statement:

  • Verify valid photo ID of the customer matching the name on the HTC account
  • Call the customer at the telephone number of record
  • Send a copy of the bill to the billing address of record as shown on that specific billing statement
  • Verify the PIN shown on the first page of the HTC billing statement
  • Verify the customer's pre-established CPNI password

When releasing information as described above, the FCC prohibits the use of biographical or account information as a method of verification.