--- title: "AT&T Access Charge Lawsuits Against Prepaid Card Providers Moving Forward" date: 2010-11-22T17:54:27-05:00 author: Import Bot canonical_url: "https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/att-access-charge-lawsuits-against-prepaid-card-providers-moving-forward" section: Blog Posts --- # AT&T Access Charge Lawsuits Against Prepaid Card Providers Moving Forward November 22, 2010 Long time readers of the blog will know that we’ve been following AT&T’s attempts to collect access charges for local calls delivered via intermediaries to prepaid card providers. The background is available here: [previous Telecom Law Monitor entry](http://www.telecomlawmonitor.com/2010/01/articles/access-charges/prepaid-card-provider-seeks-stay-dismissal-of-att-access-charge-suit/). The AT&T litigation is proceeding, albeit slowly. In June, the U.S. District Court overseeing the first of AT&T’s lawsuits [allowed the IDT case to proceed](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/21_-2010-06-03-Order-Denying-Motions-to-Stay-and-D.pdf) forward. IDT [counterclaimed](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/26_-2010-07-16-IDTs-Answer.pdf) against AT&T, and AT&T [answered the counterclaims](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/30_-2010-09-07-Plaintiffs-Answer-to-Counterclaims.pdf). The pre-trial discovery period is ongoing, but trial is not scheduled to begin until [March of 2012](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/25_-2010-07-07-Joint-Proposal-for-Contents-of-Sche.pdf). In addition, AT&T has sued two other small prepaid card providers in the same U.S. District Court in Texas. The defendants are [Next-G Communications](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/Complaint-Southwestern-Bell-v_-Next-G.pdf) and [Touch-Tel Communications](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/blogs/comm-law-monitor/2010/11/Touch-Tel-complaint.pdf). Next-G has answered the complaint, and it appears it will follow the IDT case’s timing. Meanwhile, the FCC still has not acted on the [Arizona Dialtone petition for reconsideration ](http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=6518442461)of the *Prepaid Card Order* that underlies AT&T’s case. Arizona Dialtone’s 2006 request to reconsider an ​“ambiguous aspect of the *Order* \[that\] sends mixed messages to carriers” remains pending. Stay tuned. **Tags:** [Access Charges](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/access-charges), [AT&T](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/at-t), [Calling Card Industry](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/calling-card-industry), [IDT](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/idt), [litigation](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/litigation), [Next-G Communications](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/next-g-communications), [Prepaid cards](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/prepaid-cards), [Touch-Tel Communications](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/tags/touch-tel-communications) - Share this entry - - - - - [ View entry pdf ](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.kelleydrye.com/content/uploads/pdf-snapshots/att-access-charge-lawsuits-against-prepaid-card-providers-moving-forward-20230914234024.pdf) ### Search Blog ### Subscribe ### Explore Topics - [Federal & State Regulatory](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/federal-state-regulatory) - [Litigation](https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/blogs/commlaw-monitor/litigation) ### Related Services - [Communications](https://www.kelleydrye.com/industries/communications)