US Supreme Court rules for Sprint in fees fight

The Supreme Court ruled for a Sprint Nextel subsidiary locked in a dispute with the utilities regulator in Iowa. The High Court said in a unanimous ruling that a federal district court can consider a lawsuit filed by subsidiary Sprint Communications challenging an Iowa Utilities Board decision even though the legal process in Iowa courts is not yet complete.

The dispute arose in 2009 when Sprint declined to pay access charges for its calls carried by Iowa Telecom - now Windstream Iowa Communications - that were transmitted over the Internet rather than the traditional phone network. The Iowa Utilities Board, which regulates telecommunications in the state, said Sprint was required to pay. Sprint maintains that under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, VoIP calls are an "information service" not a "telecommunications service" and that therefore the company does not have to pay access charges.