AT&T; Rate Cuts on Interstate Calls Take Effect Today

AT&T;’s rates for interstate calling will fall an average of 1.9% today to reflect a $637.5-million cut in revenue ordered last month by the Federal Communications Commission. But residential customers will pay 30 cents a month more for their local phone service.

The AT&T; rate reduction marked its eighth cut since spinning off its local phone operations in 1984 to settle an antitrust lawsuit. It also dropped the cost of interstate calls nearly 40% below prices five years ago.

For example, the cost of a five-minute call from Los Angeles to the East Coast during normal business hours is falling to $1.26, down from $1.40 as of Friday and down from $2.70 before the breakup of the Bell System. Between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. and on weekends and holidays, that call now costs 65 cents, down from 70 cents as of Friday on and from $1.08 five years ago.

But the latest cut amounts to little on calls traveling short distances, if it amounts to a reduction at all. For example, a five-minute business hours call from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is falling just 3 cents today, to $1.16, while the 77-cent charge during evening hours remained unchanged, and the night and weekend rate actually increased a penny to 60 cents. Five years ago, however, a night call cost 85 cents.

At the same time, the “subscriber line charge” that appears on monthly local phone bills increased to $3.50, a 30-cent boost and the last in a series of hikes phased in over the last two years. The FCC created the “subscriber line charge” to collect what it determined should be the customer’s share of the phone company’s costs of maintaining local access to long-distance services.