AT&T and Zeus Wireless are fighting over their interconnection agreement...
AT&T and Zeus Wireless are fighting over their interconnection agreement in Texas. “After conducting call studies, AT&T Texas discovered that Zeus was sending it large amounts of land line-originated traffic” through its interconnection agreement (ICA), against its terms, AT&T told…
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the Texas Public Utility Commission in a post-hearing brief Tuesday (http://bit.ly/Y3DODA). It complained to the PUC last fall and notified Zeus, it said. AT&T wants an expedited proceeding to terminate the interconnection agreement. AT&T doesn’t care that Zeus might stop sending landline traffic now, given the longstanding interconnection agreement only provided for wireless-originated traffic: “That does not cure Zeus’ daily breach of the ICA over the last three years or its refusal to pay the compensation due on the land line-originated traffic already sent. AT&T Texas is still entitled to, and still intends to, terminate the ICA.” AT&T pointed to lost access charges and compared the situation to its battle with the now-liquidated Halo Wireless, against which it “spent much of the past two years prosecuting complaints” in multiple states as part of what it alleged was Halo’s “scheme, conducted in breach of the same ICA language at issue here. Halo -- like Zeus -- had interconnection agreements with AT&T ILECs that allowed it to send only wireless-originated traffic to AT&T.” Zeus, in its own post-brief hearing, argues that AT&T isn’t entitled to an expedited ruling and calls this “its own manufactured crisis” (http://bit.ly/VafVLZ). Zeus criticized the way AT&T conducted now “stale” traffic studies before informing Zeus of its concerns. “As a result of [AT&T’s] August 3, 2012, demand letter, Zeus made significant changes to its systems on August 22, 2012, to satisfy AT&T’s concerns and cure any alleged breach,” Zeus added. It said a more recent study showed the traffic issues were largely resolved. “AT&T Texas is not entitled to terminate its ICA and discontinue providing service to Zeus, because any alleged breaches have been timely eliminated,” Zeus said.