SprintCom, Inc. v. Commissioners of the Illinois Commerce Commission

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying plaintiff-phone company’s petition to set aside ruling of defendant-ICC that denied plaintiff’s request to pay only cheaper, TELRIC rates for plaintiff’s use of Illinois Bell’s infrastructure for calls made by plaintiff’s customers to persons outside region serviced by Illinois Bell. Plaintiff’s request was in conflict with “interconnection” term used in Telecommunications Act, which provided for TELRIC rates only for calls/connections made solely within Illinois Bell service area, and plaintiff’s request would effectively suppress any incentive for Illinois Bell to improve its infrastructure. Moreover, plaintiff failed to show that higher rates actually charged by Illinois Bell for use of its infrastructure to facilitate calls made to phones outside its service area were too high for plaintiff to compete with other phone companies.