Verizon and Sprint continue to fight over charges Verizon has...
Verizon and Sprint continue to fight over charges Verizon has attempted to collect from Sprint, before the New York State Public Service Commission. The two parties have been engaged in an interconnection agreement, the PSC documents said. “Discovery just received…
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reveals that Verizon is actually mischaracterizing traffic, and as a result, is erroneously assessing transit charges and RPCs [record processing charges] on Sprint calls that are not transit,” Sprint said in a brief posted Monday (http://xrl.us/bnwm9y). “While conclusively demonstrating that all Verizon RPCs must be fully credited, this revelation will also require examination of the TTS [tandem transit service] charges themselves ... Significantly, Verizon now admits that its assessment of RPCs on ’traffic not within the definition of TTS’ is a valid ground for removal of such charges.” Much of Sprint’s reply brief repeats charges first offered in March but now with supplemental material gained in discovery. Verizon is wrongly “charging the RPC on calls that never leave the Verizon network” and “charging the RPC on non-local, interstate calls,” Sprint said. The telco questioned the validity of Verizon’s practices. Verizon called the charge “a long-standing tariff” that Sprint has attempted to charge, according to an Oct. 19 Verizon brief (http://xrl.us/bnwnaa). “Sprint should be directed to pay those charges, together with authorized late payment charges,” Verizon told the PSC, adding it’s entitled to the “full” amount. Verizon traces the current disagreement back to withheld Sprint payments from 2007. Its brief is a revised version of one first submitted last November. The telcos will be examining ways to change the charge in the second phase of this PSC proceeding, they said.