AT&T Seeks Injunction Against Lumen to Prevent Disconnection

AT&T wants a federal court to prevent Lumen from disconnecting circuits used to provide services to wireless and wireline customers, said a reply brief last week in support of a preliminary injunction filed in docket 1:22-cv-02206-RM-KLM in U.S. District Court in Colorado. The proceeding stems from a complaint filed by Lumen in August over unpaid time division multiplexing fees. “Lumen’s threatened disconnection would cause catastrophic harm to AT&T and its affected customers,” said AT&T’s motion. AT&T has argued that Lumen is seeking to raise the fees by 20%, while Lumen has argued that AT&T was previously seeing a discounted rate, and that the increased prices are consistent with the market price. “Even if AT&T pays the amounts Lumen demands now, Lumen will threaten disconnection again unless AT&T keeps paying Lumen at the rates it demands while this case proceeds,” AT&T said. “AT&T would be irreparably harmed by this massive out-of-pocket cost.” Along with the injunction, AT&T is also seeking to have the case transferred to the Southern District of New York, and the motion says the court should rule on the transfer motion first, because Lumen has agreed not to disconnect any circuits until the Colorado court or a court in the Southern District of New York have ruled on the preliminary injunction. Lumen previously planned to disconnect the circuits Dec. 5, the transfer motion said. Lumen opposes the transfer motion, and has argued that its agreements with AT&T mean the case doesn’t have to be transferred.