WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed a case involving AT&T Corp.’s practice
of rounding up minutes for wireless calls to proceed in state court.
Borrowed from the long-distance industry,
rounding up refers to the practice of billing in full-minute increments. For example, a call lasting 61 seconds would be
billed as two minutes. Most wireless carriers round up to the next minute, although Nextel Communications Inc. and
Aerial Communications offer per-second billing.
The case, AT&T Wireless Services v. Tenore, originally filed in
1995 in Seattle, was dismissed by a local court in 1996, and is before the Washington state Supreme Court.
“Today’s action allows us to argue the issues and merits in the State Supreme Court in Washington,” said
an AT&T spokeswoman.
The Tenore case is a class-action lawsuit accusing AT&T of fraud, misrepresentation and
violations of state consumer protection laws because the company did not, according to claimants, adequately disclose
its practice of charging in full-minute increments.
AT&T argues that rounding-up is a long-standing industry
practice supported by the wireless industry. Indeed, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association filed a brief
in support of AT&T. Additionally, AT&T says it fully discloses the use of rounding up in customer documents.
In
other action, the Supreme Court last week, without comment, vacated the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order
forbidding the Federal Communications Commission from requiring the Baby Bells to open their network to
competitors at certain prices as a prerequisite for entering the long-distance market. This decision was expected after
the court in January affirmed the FCC’s power to set national pricing guidelines. That ruling overturned the 8th Circuit’s
decision that states, not the FCC, had the power to set pricing guidelines.
Part of the Supreme Court’s decision on
pricing was sent back to the 8th Circuit for further clarification. GTE Corp. last month urged the appeals court to set up
an expedited briefing and oral arguments schedule to be completed before the summer recess.
