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Mci att dispute over calling fraud Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2003-08-04-mci-probes-self_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2003-08-04-mci-probes-self_x.htm
MCI rebuts charges by AT&T over call routing
By Andrew Backover and Elliot Blair Smith, USA TODAY
MCI fired back at rival AT&T Monday, saying it falsely accused MCI of fraudulently routing calls via Canada to stick AT&T with the bill.
No. 2 long-distance player MCI says in a court filing, after an internal probe, that what it did is "completely legal." It accuses No. 1 AT&T of using false charges to "derail" MCI's exit from bankruptcy protection. AT&T countered MCI's claims, adding its charges "have nothing to do with seeking a competitive advantage." (Related story: MCI slams charges as 'overheated rhetoric')
The wrangling is the latest in a bitter dispute between MCI and its rivals, who want MCI, formerly WorldCom, liquidated instead of emerging from Chapter 11 with little debt and the freedom to slash prices. Verizon Communications and SBC Communications have also accused MCI of avoiding access fees that phone companies pay each other to connect calls. Prosecutors are investigating, and MCI continues its own probe.
AT&T last week said MCI tricked it by routing long-distance calls via Canada back to AT&T, which unwittingly paid to deliver them in the USA. Monday, MCI also denied tampering with the calls to disguise their origin, which would be illegal.
Disputes over access fees are common as companies cut the cost of carrying calls. The key is whether companies stay within the lines when doing so.
•Sprint sued MCI in 2002 for $100 million, claiming MCI intentionally rerouted calls through another state to make them look like state-to-state calls, which cost less to connect. The case is in limbo pending MCI's Chapter 11 status.
•MCI, in its filing, also says AT&T has engaged in its own "questionable" tactics to cut access fees. A spokesman for Mexico's No. 1 phone company, Telmex, says his company has clashed for years with AT&T, MCI and others over calls that allegedly enter Mexico illegally as local rather than international calls.
•MCI also called attention to the fact that AT&T in May asked regulators to essentially cut access fees on prepaid phone card calls. But Alaskan phone company General Communications Inc. (GCI) disagreed, saying that would give AT&T an unfair advantage. The regulators sided with GCI.
AT&T says it cuts costs by working proper channels. It says MCI didn't do that when it routed calls to a company called Onvoy. Former CEO David Kelley, who ran Onvoy when it developed its strategy for MCI and others in early 1999, said neither he nor Onvoy engaged in wrongdoing. He also denied that Onvoy disguised the origin of calls. Meanwhile, MCI says it got little benefit. Onvoy carries less than 1% of its traffic, it says, adding AT&T was paid to carry the calls back to the USA, possibly at a profit.
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