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Wireless carrier T-Mobile (News - Alert) has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pay more than $90 million as restitution for placing unauthorized third-party charges on its customers' phone bills. The agreement, which was reached last Friday, settles a lawsuit the FTC (News - Alert) filed against the company in July 2014.

T-Mobile was accused of billing customers for unwanted premium services such as horoscopes, love tips and celebrity gossip, in turn receiving 35 to 40 percent of every charge. These services, the core of a discouraged practice known as "mobile cramming," were typically billed for $9.99 per month.

Under the agreement T-Mobile is required to pay at least $67.5 million in restitution, and more if consumer claims exceed that amount. In addition the company is responsible for $18 million in fines and penalties to the attorney generals of all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, and $4.5 million to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)).

“Mobile cramming is an issue that has affected millions of American consumers, and I’m pleased that this settlement will put money back in the hands of affected T-Mobile customers,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement regarding the settlement. “Consumers should be able to trust that their mobile-phone bills reflect the charges they authorized and nothing more.”

T-Mobile - along with top competing carriers Verizon, AT&T and Sprint (News - Alert) - claimed to have stopped billing for these services in late 2013, and the company launched a comprehensive refund program earlier this year. However, the lawsuit was filed in response to numerous complaints from consumers that refunds were difficult to obtain. In October the company reportedly had set aside $53 million in preparation for the settlement.

A further stipulation of the agreement requires that T-Mobile stay out of the premium text-messaging services business, generally considered representative of the majority of problems with mobile cramming. The company is also responsible for contacting all current and former customers who were "crammed" to inform them of the refund program and claims process. Lastly, third-party charges must be presented in a dedicated section of the phone bill from now on.

AT&T (News - Alert) and Sprint have also recently been subject to legal action for cramming and related violations. In October AT&T agreed to pay $105 million in restitution and fines, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in coordination with the FCC filed a lawsuit against Sprint earlier last week.