AT&T Contests FCC Fine for Ripping Off Florida Schools

AT&T is contesting an FCC fine recently levied against the company for over-charging Florida schools. According to the orginal FCC announcement, AT&T charged two Florida school districts some of the highest rates in the state, ignoring the FCC's "lowest corresponding price" rule, which the FCC says prohibits ISPs from "charging them more than the lowest price paid by other similarly situated customers" in the state under the subsidized program. The FCC says AT&T must also repay $63,760 it "improperly received" from the Universal Service Fund as a subsidy to pay for those services.

But in a blog post AT&T says the company wasn't technically required to charge the schools the lowest rate, because the districts bought service on a month-to-month basis instead of signing one-year contracts.

"Contract term is a regular and routine distinction in rates, and the Commission has previously expressed the view that length of contract is a valid basis to price services differently among customers," argues AT&T. "In this case the school districts at issue never asked for annual contracts, never signed annual contracts and did not behave as though they had annual contracts."

As Ars Technica quite correctly notes, AT&T's contesting of the case highlights how already relatively small fines can be difficult if not impossible for regulators to collect as deep-pocketed incumbents throw lawyers at each and every contested fine. AT&T is also fighting a $100 million FCC fine for misleading customers about the company's throttling of its wireless network.

AT&T consistently insists it's never at fault when the FCC brings the fine hammer down, but the company has an indisputable history when it comes to hurting its own customers and even turning a blind eye to criminal fraud.

In 2013, AT&T was fined $18.25 million for turning a blind eye to fraudulent calls made over the IP Relay service, for which AT&T is subsidized by the government. In 2015, AT&T was hit with a $10.4 million fine for allegedly defrauding the FCC Lifeline program. In 2014, AT&T paid a $105 million fine for actively making its bills harder to understand so crammers would have an easier time ripping off its wireless subscribers. Earlier this month AT&T was fined nearly $8 million for aiding drug-dealing scammers running a bogus directory assistance service.

If you take AT&T's word for it, the company was utterly faultless in every one of these instances.