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The Telecom Digest for Mon, 11 Apr 2022
Volume 41 : Issue 61 : "text" format

table of contents
AT&T Breaches Duty Of Loyalty In Freeze-Out Of Minority Partners And Is Hit With Millions In Damages
AT&T to pay $60M fine for 'unlimited' data throttling policy
AT&T to pay $1.5M to settle D.C. lawsuit for overcharging on mobile service

Message-ID: <20220410214650.21D1F766@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2022 21:46:50 +0000 (UTC) From: Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com> Subject: AT&T Breaches Duty Of Loyalty In Freeze-Out Of Minority Partners And Is Hit With Millions In Damages by Matt Albaugh , Jason Asmus , Julie Crocker , William Doyle and Chris Brown Earlier this week, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that AT&T breached its duty of loyalty by engaging in an unfair and self-interested transaction as part of a minority-partner freeze-out. In In re Cellular Telephone Partnership Litigation, (C.A. No. 6885-VCL) (Del. Ch. March 9, 2022), Vice Chancellor Laster issued a detailed, 134-page opinion following a five-day trial last year. The decision was a bellwether for 12 other similar freeze-out transactions that AT&T performed around the country. AT&T's partnerships originated in the 1980s as part of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) lottery system for awarding cellular telephone networks in various geographic areas. At the time, lottery participants would commonly enter into arrangements similar to an office pool - if one of the pool participants won the FCC's lottery, the winner received a 50.01% partnership interest and the others received shares of the remaining 49.99% interest. A pool participant for the Salem, Ore. area won and promptly sold its controlling partnership interest to AT&T. https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/trials-appeals-compensation/1172172/att-breaches-duty-of-loyalty-in-freeze-out-of-minority-partners-and-hit-with-millions-in-damages -- (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Message-ID: <20220410214132.C2363766@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2022 21:41:32 +0000 (UTC) From: Sean Murphy <murphy.s@remove-this.telecomdigest.net> Subject: AT&T to pay $60M fine for 'unlimited' data throttling policy By Bevin Fletcher After reaching terms of a settlement this summer, the Federal Trade Commission disclosed on Tuesday that AT&T will pay $60 million for misleading millions of customers by obscuring its throttling practices while charging them for so-called "unlimited" data plans. AT&T approved final terms of the settlement back in August, but the carrier's penalty was only revealed yesterday, after the FTC voted to approve the stipulated final order, which still needs the signature of a District Court judge in California. The FTC in 2014 accused AT&T of promising consumers unlimited data but failing to make clear that speeds would be reduced, sometimes after customers had only used as little as 2GB of data. The practice started back in 2011, and according to the FTC affected more than 3.5 million customers. https://www.fiercewireless.com/regulatory/at-t-settles-ftc-unlimited-data-throttling-lawsuit-for-60m
Message-ID: <20220410212911.3D746766@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2022 21:29:11 +0000 (UTC) From: Sean Murphy <murphy.s@remove-this.telecomdigest.net> Subject: AT&T to pay $1.5M to settle D.C. lawsuit for overcharging on mobile service AT&T agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by D.C.'s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) related to overcharging the District and government entities for wireless voice and data services. The D.C. OAG filed a complaint in February, alleging that AT&T knowingly charged for features, add-ons and other services that D.C. didn't need and failed to comply with contract requirements to provide the most cost-effective and lowest price plans available. AT&T denied the accusations but said it decided to settle the case. https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/at-t-to-pay-1-5m-to-settle-d-c-lawsuit-for-overcharging-mobile-service

End of telecom Digest Mon, 11 Apr 2022

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