A federal judge
has agreed to a deal where Sprint Nextel pays $30 million to settle a
class-action lawsuit alleging it overcharged customers.
AT&T which is
also involved in the case is not included in the settlement and will
continue to face litigation.
Under the settlement, qualified business and
residential customers would receive prepaid telephone calling cards worth a
total of $25 million.
The suits claimed Sprint and AT&T conspired
with MCI, to charge customers more than the regulated fee for the Universal
Service Fund. This is supposed to help subsidise the cost of running phone
service to rural areas, low-income customers and public facilities, such as
schools, libraries and rural hospitals.
More here.