Qwest Pays $6.5 Million For FCC Violation

The FCC claims Qwest violated a federal ban on providing long-distance services in local service regions without receiving FCC authorization.

The FCC also said Qwest violated provisions of the Qwest/US West Merger Order prohibiting Qwest from providing certain services without FCC authorization, the FCC said in a statement.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits Bell Operating Companies such as Qwest and SBC from providing long-distance services originating from their local service regions prior to receiving FCC approval.

Qwest still faces an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department into its accounting practices.

In February of this year, Qwest upped its restatement for 2000 and 2001 to $2.2 billion. The company originally said it planned to restate $1.48 billion in fiber-optic network capacity deals.