Sprint Communications Inc. v. Jacobs, No. 12-815; U.S. Supreme Court; opinion by Ginsburg, J.; decided December 10, 2013. On certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Sprint Communications Inc., a national telecommunications service provider, withheld payment of intercarrier access fees imposed by Windstream Iowa Communications Inc., a local telecommunications carrier, for long distance Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls, after concluding that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 preempted intrastate regulation of VoIP traffic. Windstream responded by threatening to block all Sprint customer calls, which led Sprint to ask the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to enjoin Windstream from discontinuing service to Sprint. Windstream retracted its threat, and Sprint moved to withdraw its complaint. Concerned that the dispute would recur, the IUB continued the proceedings in order to resolve the question whether VoIP calls are subject to intrastate regulation. Rejecting Sprint’s argument that this question was governed by federal law, the IUB ruled that intrastate fees applied to VoIP calls.
