Corporation Commission orders SW Bell to pay Cox $3.5 million

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state commission has ordered Southwestern Bell to pay Cox Communications of Oklahoma $3.5 million in back fees. <br><br>Southwestern Bell said Monday that it disagrees with the Oklahoma

Tuesday, November 13th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state commission has ordered Southwestern Bell to pay Cox Communications of Oklahoma $3.5 million in back fees.

Southwestern Bell said Monday that it disagrees with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's order and plans an appeal.

Both companies provide local telephone service in Oklahoma. They entered into an agreement in 1997 that requires Southwestern Bell to pay Cox a fee every time a Southwestern Bell customer calls a Cox phone customer locally. When the situation is reversed, Cox pays Southwestern Bell a fee.

The system has worked well with voice calls, but a problem came up with calls to Internet service providers.

Cox told the commission that Southwestern Bell had not made payments for Southwestern Bell customers who dialed into ISPs that were Cox customers.