AT&T; Expected to Announce Plan to Offer Credit Cards

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has scheduled a news conference for Monday to unveil its plan to offer MasterCard and Visa credit cards in a bid to boost revenue from consumers, industry analysts said.

An AT&T; spokesman confirmed that the company has planned a news conference for 1 p.m. EST Monday for “a major consumer service” announcement but declined to give further details.

The company has said it is investigating financial services products and recently hired several top-notch people from the credit card and financial services industry.

“People are speculating it is either a MasterCard or Visa,” said Greg Sawers, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Analysts previously said AT&T; has hired a financial services banking firm to process credit card services initially.

Analysts also said they expect there will be some start-up costs that could shave a few cents off AT&T;’s 1990 and 1991 earnings but that the cards should eventually boost profits.

AT&T; shares, which trade ex-dividend Monday, closed up 12.5 cents at $41.50 and were the most-active issue on the New York Stock Exchange.