WASHINGTON-A federal district court in California handed AirTouch Paging of California a victory when it granted summary judgment in an interconnection case against Pacific Bell. Pacific Bell must offer AirTouch the same agreement it arbitrated with Cook Telecom, Inc., said the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Additionally, the court rejected Pacific Bell’s claims it did not have jurisdiction because AirTouch had to complete the arbitration proceeding with the California Public Utilities Commission. “The court finds that an examination of [the Telecommunications Act of 1996] … indicates that this court does have jurisdiction over plaintiff’s claims,” said the decision.
Pacific Bell tried to get AirTouch to agree to a modified version of the Cook agreement, but AirTouch did not want any modifications.
AirTouch filed the lawsuit May 29, 1998, after Pacific Bell said earlier that month it would only agree to an interconnection agreement that terminated in June of last year because it would be exercising the early termination clause found in the Cook agreement. The court said this was a case of discrimination. To dispute the discrimination, the court said Pacific Bell would have had to show the discrimination was reasonable, and it did not do so.
