(Undated)– Superior Telephone Cooperative and Spencer Municipal Utilities are among 14 Iowa phone companies and dial-in service providers named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by Sprint Nextel.
Sprint alleges the rural carriers are striking illegal deals with conference and chat lines to boost long-distance call volume and charge more to big phone companies.
The suit was filed this week in federal court. It’s the latest salvo in a dispute between major phone companies and their rural counterparts.
Sprint Nextel’s lawsuit names many of the same defendants that have been sued over the same issue by Qwest and A T & T.
Some of those defendants have countersued the big phone companies for witholding payment for long-distance calls by their customers to the services.
A lawyer for some of the small companies named in the lawsuit say their business activities are legal. Jonathan Canis, a lawyer with Kelley Drye and Warren, LLC says they’re “sticking to their guns and have the law on our side”.
(From the Associated Press.).
