Local phone exchanges wrongly charged Qwest, a long-distance carrier now belonging to CenturyLink, higher fees for connecting calls than they did for AT&T and Sprint, a California state appeals court has ruled.
The three-judge panel upheld a decision of the California Public Utilities Commission finding that the local carriers discriminated against Qwest, which had to pay more for switched access services. The fees at issue, known in the industry as tariffs, are paid by long- distance companies to local exchanges that originate and terminate calls.