Illinois court won't hear Sprint's appeal in iPCS case

Sprint's legal wrangles with affiliate iPCS continue to cause angst for the carrier. The Supreme Court of Illinois yesterday refused to hear an appeal from Sprint Nextel of an earlier ruling by the Appellate Court of Illinois on a lawsuit filed against Sprint by iPCS.

iPCS sued Sprint back in 2005 saying that Sprint's merger with Nextel was anti-competitive and it had an agreement with Sprint giving it exclusivity in its territories. In late March, the Appellate Court affirmed a lower court's ruling and said that Sprint Nextel must sell its Nextel network in iPCS' territory. Sprint says that earlier this week it filed a petition with the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., asking it to set aside the original judgment in the case. However, iPCS says that it will oppose Sprint's petition because it believes this is another attempt by Sprint to avoid complying with the terms of its original affiliate agreement with iPCS.

Of course, this isn't the only litigation between the two firms. iPCS also has sued Sprint over its WiMAX deal with Clearwire. On Sept. 15, a judge denied Sprint's motion to dismiss iPCS' lawsuit.

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