TelecomTV reports that in its upcoming term the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh a carrier collusion case as America�s premier telcos petition for the dismissal of an anti-trust class action suit.
AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications International previously lost an appeals court bid to throw out a collective suit accusing the quartet of carriers of blocking market access to new entrant players and conspiring together to keep broadband and local call prices artificially high by covertly agreeing not directly to compete within specific geographic areas.
Lawyers for the four operators argue that the plaintiffs have yet to produce evidence of collusion and that therefore the case should be thrown out. The case was dismissed from a New York federal court on the same grounds, but an appeals court later re-instated the class action law suit.
Meanwhile, unlike the competitive markets in Europe, the U.S. alternative access provider sector is in pitiful decline. Furthermore, the nation's collective broadband infrastructure capabilities are still significantly behind the global market leaders in both Asia-Pacific and Europe.