Washington says Mexico has failed to dismantle barriers in its telephone market that penalize American and Mexican long-distance callers trying to maintain cross-border ties. 

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Wednesday Washington is moving ahead with a World Trade Organization case in the dispute over access to Mexico's $12-billion telecommunications market. 

The United States alleges that Mexico places unfair restrictions on foreign companies trying to compete in a market dominated by a single company, Telmex. 

The issue was first raised in late 2000, but the Bush administration decided to hold off to give the new government of Mexican President Vicente Fox time to address the U.S. concerns. 

It says U.S. telecommunicatiuons carriers are forced to pay inflated charges, passed on to customers, to complete long distance calls into Mexico. 

The issue was first raised in late 2000, but the new Bush administration decided to hold off last year to give the new government of Mexican President Vicente Fox time to address the U.S. concerns. 

In his statement Wednesday, Mr. Zoellick said the request for a WTO dispute settlement panel is being revived because efforts to resolve the issue bilaterally had failed. He says Mexico has not opened its cross-border telecommunications market as required under WTO rules. 

U.S. campanies say Mexican government moves to regulate Telmex have not been effective. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP. 

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