ALTS Supports CLECs' Lawsuit Against AT&T and Sprint for Refusing to Pay Access Charges; Long Distance Companies Must Pay Access Charges Owed to Competitive Providers.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2000 The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS ALTS Association for Local Telecommunications Services ALTS Aarhus Lawn Tennis Selskab (Denmark) ALTS Annotated Labeled Transition System ALTS Analogue Line Terminating Subsystem ALTS Automatic Laser Tracking System ), the leading national trade association representing facilities-based competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), today voiced strong support for a lawsuit filed by 10 CLECs against AT&T and Sprint asking for more than $10 million in past due payments of access charges. ALTS said the CLECs participating in the suit, most of which are ALTS members, are demanding that AT&T and Sprint pay compensatory damages A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. for failing to pay CLECs access charges for handing off traffic to begin and end calls on their local networks. The complaint was filed on April 17 in Alexandria, VA, at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, by Intermedia Intermedia - A hypertext system developed by a research group at IRIS (Brown University). Communications, Focal Communications Corp., Winstar Communications Inc., e.spire Communications Spire Communications is a marketing agency that provides public relations, advertising, Web design, graphic design and marketing consulting services. Spire specialize in communicating enterprise-wide technology programs in business and government. The company is based in Fredericksburg, Va. Inc., Advamtel LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , Business Telecom Inc.; CTSI CTSI Census Tract Street Index (US Census Bureau) CTSI California Traffic Safety Institute CTSI Corbett Technology Solutions, Inc. (Chantilly, VA) CTSI Central Terminal Signaling Interface Inc., FairPoint Communications Corp., Net2000 Communications Inc., and Sage Telecom Inc. "We strongly support the action taken by the 10 CLECs in seeking legal redress to resolve the issue of recovery of access charges," said John D. Windhausen, Jr., ALTS' President. "It is wrong for long distance giants AT&T and Sprint to refuse to pay lawfully tariffed charges to CLECs, while continuing to use their services. A victory in the case will send a strong message to all IXCs that they have a duty to pay all access charges to CLECs." "We are optimistic that the U.S. District Court will rule in favor of the CLECs," said Jonathan Askin, ALTS' General Counsel. "The rules are clear: CLECs have a right to collect these charges. The IXCs have no legal grounds for refusing to pay access charges to competitive providers." ALTS is the leading national industry association whose mission is to promote facilities-based local telecommunications competition. Created in 1987, ALTS has offices in Washington, D.C. and Irvine, California and now represents more than 200 companies that build, own, and operate competitive local networks. For more information on ALTS, contact Crawford Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most at 703/318-5460 or visit www.alts.org. |
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