A state judge set Oct. 6 as the trial date for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon’s billing lawsuit against Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications Inc. Last December, Nixon sued Sprint PCS and Nextel to force the two mobile-phone operators to change their billing to clarify to consumers that fees for local number portability, number pooling, enhanced 911 and other federal mandates are not government-imposed taxes.
The two carriers are in talks to settle the case before it goes to trial. Elsewhere, 20 other state attorneys general and the mobile-phone industry are trying to hammer out a global settlement on billing, advertising and other business practices.
