Wisconsin Adds Cell Numbers to Its DNC

Wisconsin has added cell phone numbers to its telemarketing do-not-call list.

The state’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, which administers the list, said Friday that it’s doubling the number of intake lines from 48 to 96 in anticipation of state residents signing up their cell phones for the first time.

They have until the end of August to get on the list which takes effect in October.

Wisconsin first adopted a state do-not-call list in 2003.
The Direct Marketing Association blasted this move as unnecessary and wasteful.

“It’s already against federal law for marketers to call consumers on cell phones, and mobile numbers can be added to the federal no-call list,” said Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs for the DMA.

"The marketers are going to have to pay more money to get the Wisconsin list, which will be larger, and they'll have more numbers on it that they couldn't call anyway," he noted.

Although the organization doesn't formally oppose the expansion, he called it "an absolute waste of resources.”

Already, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma allow users to register their cell phone numbers, according to the DMA.

Cerasale said that the do-not-call issue has been ”a quiet area” recently, noting that “no other states are considering such laws now as far as I am aware.”