More than 40 California government organizations announced they've joined a lawsuit alleging the four major U.S. carriers overcharged governmental customers by more than $100 million.
Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint "are alleged to have ignored two cost-saving requirements included in the master contracts under which California state and local government customers purchased wireless services," the groups said in announcing their involvement. Those master contracts require carriers to inform government customers which rate plans would result in the lowest possible cost.
The carriers didn't prepare or provide rate plan optimization reports, the groups claim, which are computerized documents that analyze individual usage patterns quarterly to identify the least expensive service for each user. Those reports reduce costs by 20 percent to 30 percent over the life of the contract, the groups claim.
The lawsuit was filed in the Sacramento County Superior Court; complainants include Los Angeles County, the City of Long Beach, San Diego Unified School District and the Regents of the University of California. It was brought by OnTheGo Wireless, which provides rate plan optimization services.
Representatives from the named carriers were not immediately available to comment on the news.
For more:
- see this release
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