AT&T; Seeks FCC’s Help to Block British Rivals : Telecommunications: Telephone giant moves to ensure that British Telecom doesn’t get better reception in U.S. than AT&T; is getting in U.K.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. sought Thursday to block Britain’s largest long-distance carrier from setting up business in the United States unless AT&T; gets equal access to Britain.

In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T; asked federal regulators to withhold permission for British Telecom North America to serve other countries from the United States.

AT&T; also applied to British authorities Thursday for a license to offer service from that country to the United States and within Britain.

British Telecom said the British market provides foreign carriers equal opportunity to compete, even if it is not “mirror image” reciprocity.

But John Berndt, president of business services for AT&T;, said: “We’re asking for access to customers in the United Kingdom that’s comparable to what British Telecom is seeking here in the United States.”

AT&T; is the United States’ largest long-distance company.

Sprint, the third-largest long-distance carrier, is filing similar comments with the FCC and has had a license application pending in Britain since January, 1992. The second-largest carrier, MCI, has not filed any comments, a spokesman said Thursday.

The deadline for reacting to British Telecom’s request is today.

David Callish, of British Telecom, said some British regulations concerning foreign carriers are much laxer than in the United States.

For example, he said, Britain has no foreign ownership restrictions. Under U.S. law, a foreign interest can purchase no more than 20% of a U.S. company.

“We are not looking to offer long-distance service within North America,” Callish said. “Our primary target is the multinational corporations.”

He said 35% of the 1,100 multinationals are headquartered in the United States, and all of them have a strong presence here.

British Telecom also needs a strong U.S. presence to provide customized telecommunications to the largest corporations of the world, Callish said.

AT&T;’s comments prompted Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, to say he would soon reintroduce the Fair Trade and Services Act, which would prohibit the FCC from granting licenses to any foreign company whose government denies U.S. access to its markets.

In addition, AT&T; asked the Clinton Administration to develop a coordinated policy for competition in the global telecommunications industry.

The action by AT&T; is consistent with the Administration’s position on regulation and trade, Berndt said.

AT&T; owns a 60% share of the U.S. long-distance business and is the world’s largest telecommunications company. But Berndt said that neither AT&T; nor any other long-distance carrier has been able to meet the demands of multinational companies for simple, reliable, high-performance communications worldwide.

AT&T; has partnerships with the telephone companies in many countries to give business clients as expansive a service as possible.

But Berndt said British Telecom, which has 90% of Britain’s long-distance business, has been particularly difficult to deal with.

“There are big differences between the way competition works in the U.K. and in the U.S.,” he said.

The British government doesn’t systematically regulate what British Telecom charges competitors for completing calls on its network, Berndt said. “Every would-be competitor has to try negotiating access terms with BT on its own. And of course BT has every incentive not to grant access except on it own terms.”

Berndt said Americans place more calls to Great Britain than Britons make to the United States. “The result is that American carriers paid BT more than $65 million last year,” he said.

There are 400 long-distance companies in the United States, although market share drops off quickly after AT&T;, MCI and Sprint. The fourth largest, for example, is Cable and Wireless, a British company, which has about 5% of the market.

Berndt said AT&T; isn’t trying to keep British Telecom out of the U.S. market forever. “We just want a level playing field,” he said.