"Late news" - Crains Cleveland Business 8/31/98
[Note: How was it determined that these were Internet calls? Well, until
recently, ICG did not provide dialtone in Cleveland to anyone except ISP's.]
Ameritech Loses Regulatory Dispute
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio last week ended a long battle between
Denver-based ICG Communications INC. and Ameritech Corp. over fees charged to
connect Internet calls. The PUCO ruled in favor of ICG, which contended that
Ameritech owed it $4 million for connecting Ameritech customers' calls to
Internet service providers. Ameritech previously refused to pay the charges,
arguing that Internet calls are long-distance calls, not local calls, and
thus weren't subject to the mandated connection fees. Ameritech spokesman
Kim Norris said Ameritech has not decided whether to appeal the ruling.