Telecom Recap 08.22.07
CUSTOMERS CAN SUE AT&T, AFTER ALL
[SOURCE: The Register, AUTHOR: Cade Metz]
A federal court in San Francisco has decided that AT&T's wireless contract is "unconscionable." On Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit came out against AT&T's "arbitration clause," which forbids wireless customers from bringing class-action suits against the company. Arbitration clauses are quite common in the US, as companies do their darndest to bury expensive consumer suits before they even get started, and the new ruling could go a long way towards curbing the practice.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/court_slames_att_wireless_contra...
VONAGE SUES TO NULLIFY PATENTS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg 8/21]
Internet phone company Vonage sued a U.S. unit of Canadian telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks, seeking to invalidate three patents for managing telephone data. Nortel is attempting to sue Vonage in Texas for infringing the patents. Vonage contends that those patents are not valid.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vonage21aug21,1,4323034.story?coll...
-- See also --
* Verizon calls for FCC exemption
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_519435.html
* Verizon asks FCC to stop reduced rates for competitors
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/08/15/verizon_as...
* Verizon petitions FCC for deregulation of DSL in East Coast cities
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070815-east-coast-verizon-wants-t...
* Stamping Out Service
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070821/EDITORIAL...
VERIZON WANTS OFF THE HOOK FOR STATE CONTROLS OF ITS NETWORK
[SOURCE: The Virginian-Pilot, AUTHOR: Carolyn Shapiro]
Federal regulators are considering whether Hampton Roads consumers have enough competitive choices in telephone services. This region is one of six on the East Coast where Verizon Communications Inc. hopes to release itself from certain regulations. It has filed a "forbearance" petition with the Federal Communications Commission, claiming that some regulations are no longer necessary in markets with healthy competition. The telecommunications giant is hoping to shake off the rules governing the wholesale rates that the company charges competitors for access to its network. Competing companies that lack their own connections to homes and businesses depend on Verizon's network to deliver service and must pay for use of that network.
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=130712&ran=218932
MISSOURI CASE COULD RING UP CELLPHONE TAXES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sara Silver sara.silver@wsj.com]
In recent years, state and local governments have been looking to monthly cellphone bills as a new source of tax revenue to make up for the growing number of consumers giving up their traditional telephones for wireless services. Now, a legal battle in Missouri could accelerate that trend, emboldening some state and local governments to increase cellphone taxes -- and cellphone bills -- even more. After a six-year legal struggle, a state court in St. Louis County this week may finally rule on whether a group of municipal telephone license taxes -- worth an estimated $500 million statewide -- apply to services offered by wireless carriers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118774015705004665.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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