AT&T Wrongly Argues All Traffic Routed From Core Is ‘Uncompensable,’ Says Core’s Reply

Defendant AT&T raises a “novel defense” to justify its refusal “to simply pay its bills,” when it argues that none of plaintiff Core Communications’ toll-free access charges is “enforceable,” said Core’s memorandum Friday (docket 2:21-cv-02771) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in opposition to AT&T’s June 30 motion for summary judgment (see 2307030004). Core is seeking to recover $11.4 million in unpaid access services charges from AT&T, which refuses to pay, claiming nearly 100% of the calls that CoreTel affiliates in Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia connected were fraudulent (see 2212280001). AT&T began withholding payment from Core related to toll-free traffic, initially remitting only partial payment, said Core’s opposition. By 2020, AT&T “began withholding substantially all payments” that Core and its affiliates claimed to be owed for their participation in the toll-free telecommunication services “call path,” it said. It’s undisputed that the “entirety” of the traffic that Core routed to AT&T was passed along in IP formats, it said. But AT&T is now suggesting that “this circumstance alone” renders all traffic routed by Core “uncompensable,” it said, “and that is just not the case.”