Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal court panel has ruled against Dixie-Net Communications Inc. in its appeal of an adverse ruling in Mississippi over in-state fees.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a ruling by a Mississippi federal judge against Ripley-based Dixie-Net, a telecom business.

At issue was whether calls made under AT&T's Area Calling Plan and Area Plus services should be treated as local traffic.

Dixie-Net asked the Mississippi Public Service Commission to resolve the dispute. In 2007, the PSC said the calls are local traffic and, therefore, AT&T isn't required to pay inside-state switched access fees to Dixie-Net for these calls.

The Mississippi judge ruled in favor of the PSC last year.

The 5th Circuit panel said it would not overrule that decision.