AT&T overcharged U.S. businesses millions of dollars by improperly handling and billing thousands of Internet Protocol relay calls made by Nigerian scammers, the Department of Justice alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday. The DOJ says AT&T violated the False Claims Act by seeking payment for IP relay calls made by international callers who sought to use the system for fraudulent purposes. The Telecommunications Relay Services Fund has reimbursed AT&T more than $16 million since December 2009, of which up to 95 percent of payments were made for non-compensable IP relay calls, the complaint said.

AT&T overcharged U.S. businesses millions of dollars by improperly handling and billing thousands of Internet Protocol relay calls made by Nigerian scammers, the Department of Justice alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday. The DOJ says AT&T violated the False Claims Act by seeking payment for IP relay calls made by international callers who sought to use the system for fraudulent purposes. The Telecommunications Relay Services Fund has reimbursed AT&T more than $16 million since December 2009, of which up to 95 percent of payments were made for non-compensable IP relay calls, the complaint said.

Telecommunications relay service provider Sorenson asked the FCC to act on a Nov. 18 request for clarification that data submission rules should be interpreted to mean that TRS providers must submit only the data they receive to be compensated. TRS providers “have no control over whether they receive a complete telephone number or IP address from the interconnecting carrier on any particular call,” Sorenson said (http://xrl.us/bmp8oi). “The request remains pending, and resolution is pressing as the TRS Fund administrator is withholding payment on video relay service call submissions that do not include all of the data listed.” Sorenson noted that it filed the petition on the same day the FCC released its intercarrier compensation reform order. “The Order addresses issues related to Sorenson’s request, but it fails to resolve the central issue for which Sorenson seeks clarification,” the company said. In a second filing on the TRS, executives of Purple, which also provides relay services for the deaf and hard of hearing, met with FCC officials to express general support for a recent further notice of proposed rulemaking from the FCC. Purple supports “the FNPRM’s objectives of creating a predictable outlook on the industry that encourages continued investment and innovation and market competition,” the company said in an ex parte. filing (http://xrl.us/bmp8ox).

Rent-a-Center and Aaron’s are expanding outside their core rent-to-own business with formats aimed at broadening their customer reach, executives at both companies said.

The FCC should define “functional equivalency” so the deaf and hard of hearing “are able to participate equally in the entire conversation” and “they experience the same activity, emotional context, purpose, operation, work, service or role (function) within the call,” a coalition of deaf and hard-of-hearing advocates told the FCC. In the group is Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, National Association of the Deaf, Association of Late-Deafened Adults, Hearing Loss Association of America, California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, American Association of the Deaf-Blind, Speech Communication Assistance by Telephone, Communication Service for the Deaf, and Deaf Seniors of America. They laid out a 10-point platform, met with FCC staff and posted their comments in an ex parte notice in docket 10-51. The groups said telecommunications relay service (TRS) vendors “must provide full benefit to all parties on a call, regardless of the complexity and/or cost,” provide an experience that is “at the minimum … equivalent” to the experience of hearing people and use “mainstream products and services” that are “high quality.” TRS vendors also should provide equipment and services that are “accessible and address the diverse needs of” the deaf and hard of hearing, provide interoperable communications, “be motivated to bring products to market that keep up with mainstream technological advancements,” give a “wide selection of choices” for software and hardware, and allow for emergency calls that “fully satisfy the safety and security needs of” users. Customers should get “prompt, comprehensive customer care” and provider should commit “to uphold the integrity of the TRS Fund,” the groups said.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.

The FCC in recent days approved four items on circulation that will be publicly released soon, including a report to Congress about minorities and women whose delay had prompted criticism by many groups, commission officials said Wednesday. They said the commissioners have approved the report about how the FCC is reducing barriers that minorities and women face entering the media and telecom industries. It had been due at the end of 2009.

Rent-a-Center (RAC) is aggressively expanding its customer-credit business as it adds 300 kiosk-based locations this year, building on its acquisition of TRS (CED Dec 27 p3).

Rent-a-Center (RAC) bought TRS for $75.5 million as it moves to expand its customer-credit business with regional retailers and scales back offering financial services through its stores. The deal, which has closed, was primarily funded from cash on hand, RAC said Thursday. TRS has offered name-brand CE products through retail sales and lease-purchase programs since 1983.

Purple Communications agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle FCC claims that the company overbilled the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund. Under a consent decree that was finalized last week and announced Monday, Purple will pay some $18.5 million back into the TRS Fund, plus another $3.1 million in fines, all over the next five years; “voluntarily” pay $550,000 to the U.S. Treasury, and create a “detailed” compliance plan within 30 days. Purple officials didn’t respond to requests for comment. The FCC began investigating Purple’ predecessor companies in August 2007, according to the consent decree; Enforcement Bureau spokesman Eric Bash said “one or more whistleblowers” came forward to report the company.