The WUTC on May 12, 1999 imposed a $66,000 fine against GTE Northwest Inc. (which has since changed its name to Verizon Northwest, Inc.) for acting illegally by violating the terms of its business agreement with MCI WorldCom Inc.

MCI WorldCom filed a formal complaint against GTE, and the WUTC agreed with MCI WorldCom that GTE violated state law and should be penalized for not living up to the terms laid out in an agreement between the two carriers that dictated how customers’ phone calls would be exchanged using each other’s telephone networks.

The three-member commission also told GTE to pay $1.45 million to MCI WorldCom in compensation for lost revenue that MCI should have received under the shared business arrangement reached between the two companies.

WUTC Staff Contact: Glenn Blackmon, e-mail mailto:blackmon, telephone 360 664-1290.