
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 13, 1995                   TAG: 9510130047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

AT&T NOW FREE TO SET RATES FOR LONG DISTANCE

AT&T, like its long-distance rivals, soon will be able to charge what it wants. Federal regulators agreed Thursday to lift rules controlling the rates the telephone giant charges its 80 million residential customers.

Poor customers and those who make few long-distance calls would be protected.

The Federal Communications Commission, citing a more competitive long-distance market, voted 5-0 to lift price regulations on AT&T. The change takes effect 30 days after the FCC makes the written order public.

AT&T competitor MCI and the Consumer Federation of America oppose the change.

``They didn't need to throw out all the rules and the tools to protect long-distance telephone customers,'' the consumer group's legislative counsel, Bradley Stillman, said in an interview. ``Residential customers could end up with higher rates or they may not see lower rates.''

The FCC and AT&T disagree. They say the action would let AT&T act more competitively, which eventually should lower residential rates and speed new services to the public.

AT&T controls 56.6 percent of the long-distance market. Approximately 60 percent of AT&T customers are not on a discounted calling plan, the FCC said.

To protect the most vulnerable customers - those who generally are not enrolled in a discounted calling plan, where there is robust competition among the long-distance companies for customers - AT&T would be required to provide:

A 15 percent discount to poor residential customers for three years.

A guaranteed rate for low-volume residential customers, starting out at $3 a month for the first 20 minutes of service in the first year offered.

Regulators five days' notice of proposed residential rate increases above certain levels.

A low-volume customer is one who makes less than $10 a month in long-distance calls. However, all AT&T customers could take advantage of the $3 guaranteed rate for infrequent callers, said FCC attorney Don Stockdale.

by CNB