Comcast Phone, LSSi End Legal Fight Over Access to Directory Assistance Data

LSSi Data ended its legal fight against Comcast Phone over access to customer data. The two filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last week asking for dismissal of the case, and the FCC Enforcement Bureau in a filing posted Monday in docket 14-211 said that in light of that agreement, it was terminating the proceeding. Comcast Phone had provided access to its directory assistance listing data to LSSi in exchange for help processing and distributing that data, but Comcast Phone ended its contract with LSSi in 2011 and entered a similar relationship instead with an LSSi competitor, Targus Info. LSSi sued Comcast Phone in 2011, arguing that the Communications Act requires it to have access to the data on a non-discriminatory basis. Comcast Phone argued the case should be referred to the FCC, and U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell of Atlanta agreed in 2013, citing its "novel regulatory questions that are within the FCC’s specialized area of expertise." Neither the court paperwork nor the bureau filing gave any details on the out-of-court settlement terms.