AT&T offers big discounts to home phone users 21 June
AT&T will formally unveil a raft of telecoms services for residential telephone customers on Monday next week, Newsbytes has discovered. While official details of the service are top secret, Newsbytes has discovered that discounts as high as 41 percent will be available on trunk and international calls.

According to sales staff manning the new toll-free number for AT&T consumer service sales -- 0800-064-2000 -- calls from the UK to the US are 31 pence during weekdays, falling to 19 pence per minute during evening and weekends. Other international rates and trunk calls are described as "competitive" by sales staff.

Access to the AT&T network is being offered using indirect access. Instead of the usual 10288 access code seen in the US, AT&T has opted for 143 in prefix to the trunk or international number. Calls can be made using British Telecom phones. There are no plans currently to offer local call services to BT subscribers, staff told Newsbytes.

According to sales staff, a wide range of discount calling plans will be available to subscribers, depending on the time of day their calls are made and their calling patterns. No subscriptions are being charged for the "AT&T 143" service as it will be known.

AT&T's new service is being made possible by a relaxation of the rules on foreign telcos entering the UK market for consumer telecoms, Newsbytes notes. AT&T will be using BT's CLI (caller line identification) facility to "recognise" calls from subscriber lines, and bill subscribers accordingly.

Initial plans for the launch are low-key, with existing high-spending AT&T card holders in the UK being mailed within the next few weeks and encouraged to sign up for service. Later this summer, the telco will start advertising for residential subscribers to its new service.

(Steve Gold/19960621/Press & Reader Contact: AT&T UK +44-171-925-8000)


From the NEWSBYTES news service, 21 June