NATION : AT&T; Fixes Long-Distance Flaw

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has traced a computer software failure that blocked millions of long-distance calls Monday to a backup system in New York, a top company official said today as service returned to normal.

Chairman Robert E. Allen also said AT&T; plans to offer a discount day for businesses who may have lost money because customers were unable to do business by telephone.

Allen made the comments at a late-morning news conference at the company’s network operations center in Bedminster, N.J.