Washington – The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from an Iowa telecommunications company that claimed Qwest Communications International Inc. owed it money for wireless phone calls Qwest connected to its network.
At issue in the case, which was brought by Iowa Network Services Inc., is whether federal regulators have the final say on telecom rates or whether local call rates can be set by state officials.
Lower federal courts ruled in Denver-based Qwest’s favor and gave Iowa’s state utilities board a role in resolving the dispute.
By declining to take the case, without comment, the Supreme Court let stand the lower-court rulings in Qwest’s favor, which will save Qwest tens of millions of dollars in charges and interest that INS had sought.
James Troup, Iowa Network’s attorney, said the rulings undermined the ability of the Federal Communications Commission to enforce uniform rates across the country and could affect other federally regulated industries, such as utilities and railroads.
The quarrel began in the late 1990s, when INS sought to bill Qwest for wireless calls that Qwest transmitted to INS’s networks, which INS then sent to local phone companies. The calls were originated by third-party wireless carriers, not Qwest.
INS argued that Qwest did not provide enough information to determine which wireless companies originated the call, making it impossible to bill firms. At that point, INS sought payment from Qwest based on rates that had been approved by the FCC.
Qwest, though, had sought a ruling in 2000 from the Iowa Utilities Board, which said that since the calls were local, rather than long-distance, they would not be subject to the FCC rates.
