WASHINGTON - In a loss for wireless communications providers, the Supreme Court yesterday let stand a lower court ruling that prevents the industry from listing taxes and other government fees as separate items on consumers' bills.
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. had asked the justices to overturn the ruling.
They said in court papers that state and local governments try to "hide" taxes and fees by barring carriers from listing them as separate items, requiring the companies instead to fold them in with the rest of their charges.
Consumer advocates, who support the lower court's ruling, responded that companies frequently add a confusing array of charges that are not always the result of government taxes. Such complaints led the Federal Communications Commission to extend "truth in billing" rules to cellphones in 2005.
The dispute is whether the FCC was correct when it ruled in 2005 that federal law prohibits states from barring separate line items. Federal communications law bars state regulation of rates but allows states to regulate "other terms and conditions" of service. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the FCC in 2006, ruling that line items were "other terms and conditions" that states could prohibit. Yesterday's decision lets that ruling stand.
The issue is not completely settled: The appeals court sent the case back to the FCC, and the agency is considering additional grounds for preempting state regulation of the wireless industry.
