QWEST ACCUSES MCI OF EVADING LONG DISTANCE ACCESS CHARGES

摘要

Qwest filed suit against MCI for not paying access charges for completion of long distance calls on Qwest’s network and claimed MCI deliberately altered call data to avoid the payments. In the suit filed Mon. in U.S. Dist. Court, Denver, Qwest asked for money damages to be proven at a trial but said the amount is at least $10 million. Qwest asked for a jury trial and sought court action halting MCI’s alleged practice. The company also asked for “a full accounting of the number of interexchange minutes... sent to Qwest for termination and the number of such minutes for which [MCI] failed to pay access charges.” A spokeswoman for Verizon, MCI’s new parent, said “the Qwest complaint is completely devoid of specific factual allegations” so it’s hard to respond to it.” She said it “appears that this is a routine tariff dispute between the parties that had been the subject of prior negotiations that did not lead to a settlement.” MCI merged with Verizon Fri.