9 phone companies win round against Qwest

Nine independent telephone companies from Montana have won a victory against Qwest before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they believe will yield them $5 million from Qwest.

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau

Chuck Evilsizer, one of the three lawyers for the companies who worked on the case, said the court ruled 3-0 in their favor in an unpublished opinion Aug. 27 and remanded the case to U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull of Billings, who had ruled against them earlier as a U.S. magistrate in 1999.

"We’re all very thrilled," said Evilsizer, a Helena attorney specializing in telecommunications matters. "It’s been a long, long process. It’s a major victory and protects rates for our customers, rural and low-income consumers. It’s a major victory for Montana, really."

Rick Hays, Montana vice president for Qwest, said: "Our response is we’re obviously disappointed in the ruling. At this point, we’re weighing our options and deciding how to proceed."

Hey You Don’t Have to Run Out!

He said Qwest could petition for a rehearing before the full Circuit Court or appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Evilsizer said the case dealt with "terminating access charges" paid by long-distance companies such as Qwest to independent phone companies. The long-distance carrier has to pay an access charge to the local telephone company for starting and terminating a long-distance call.

He said, if someone from Helena calls Ronan, and Qwest is the long-distance carrier, Qwest will have to pay Ronan Telephone Co. to terminate the call. Several years ago, he said, Qwest decided not to pay these independent telephone companies for wireless or cellular calls that didn’t originate from Qwest, he said. That amounted to 20 percent to 30 percent of the total terminating payments that the companies said Qwest owed them, totaling $5 million combined for all of the nine companies. The Circuit Court sent the case back to Cebull, who has to look at the tariffs and make a final decision, Evilsizer said.

Given’s Qwest’s financial difficulties, Evilsizer said, the nine companies are nervous about whether the payment will be made. "We’d like to have a check and have it in the bank," he said.

He said Qwest has restructured its bank loans and is on sound financial ground.

The nine companies that sued are: 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Range Telephone Cooperative, Blackfoot Tele-phone Cooperative, Northern Telephone Cooperative, Inter-bell Telephone Cooperative, Clark Fork Telecommunications, Lincoln Telephone Co., Ronan Telephone Co. and Hot Springs Telephone Co.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/09/05/build/business/qwest.inc