"The FCC Won't Let Me Be": GCI Settles With DOJ And FCC In FCA Case Alleging Bid-Rigging And Inflated Pricing [telecom]

From	"The Telecom Digest" <digest-replies@telecomdigest.net>
Newsgroups	comp.dcom.telecom
Subject	"The FCC Won't Let Me Be": GCI Settles With DOJ And FCC In FCA Case Alleging Bid-Rigging And Inflated Pricing [telecom]
Date	2023-06-02 17:02 -0400
Organization	The Telecom Digest
Message-ID	<20230602210209.GA443922@telecomdigest.us> (permalink)

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by Paula Ramer and Eliza Buergenthal

On May 11, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that
Alaska's largest telecommunications provider, GCI Communications
Corp. (GCI), had agreed to pay US$40 million to settle a False Claims
Act action brought against the company by one of its employees:
U.S. ex rel. Robert Taylor v. GCI Liberty, Inc., No. 19-CV-02029 JCC
(W.D. Wash. 2021). The relator alleged that the company engaged in
price inflation and bid rigging in violation of the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) regulations surrounding the
Universal Service Fund's Rural Health Care Program (RHCP).

Through the RHCP, which promotes access to healthcare in rural areas,
the FCC pays companies the difference between providing
telecommunications services in rural areas versus more densely
populated areas in the same state. The program gives $570 million
annually to eligible companies. Companies participating in the RHCP
must go through a competitive bidding process regulated by the FCC.

https://www.mondaq.com/article/news/1322400?q=1803232&n=806&tp=8&tlk=3&lk=53

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"The FCC Won't Let Me Be": GCI Settles With DOJ And FCC In FCA Case  Alleging Bid-Rigging And Inflated Pricing [telecom] "The Telecom Digest" <digest-replies@telecomdigest.net> - 2023-06-02 17:02 -0400

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