Feds: AT&T Overcharged Schools 400 Percent

The Federal Communication Commission has issued AT&T a “Notice of Apparent Liability” (NAL), alleging that the company overcharged two Florida school districts for phone service by tens of thousands of dollars. The overcharges were said to constitute an abuse of the E-Rate program, which is funded by money collected from U.S. phone customers as a surcharge on their bills. The FCC then subsidizes the E-Rate program by paying phone companies, including AT&T, to write down the phone bills for certain educational institutions. According to the FCC, AT&T failed to do that with two Florida school districts and ended up overcharging them by about 400 percent. AT&T apparently maintains that the districts weren’t eligible for the E-Rate program because they failed to comply with certain Florida regulations.