AT&T; Maintains Plans to Adjust Rates

AT&T; Corp. is standing by plans to restructure its basic long-distance calling rates, which include some increases similar to ones the company withdrew this week amid protests from regulators and consumers. The new rates, intended to help offset the loss of a $3 monthly fee from millions of low-usage customers, are still being devised, but the company hopes to implement them “just as quickly as we can,” AT&T; spokesman Mark Siegel said. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission announced it would cut by $3.2 billion the “access fees” local phone companies charge long-distance carriers to connect calls--costs that phone users typically pay. Major phone companies, including AT&T;, pledged to pass the savings along to consumers. But when the nation’s largest long-distance company tried to compensate--trimming some basic rates while raising others by as much as 2 1/2 times--consumers and FCC officials complained that AT&T; had violated the spirit of the industry’s pledge. The rate changes are crucial to help make up for the $3 monthly fee, a reliable revenue stream that AT&T; can ill afford to lose at a time when price wars are already eating into the company’s long-distance business. Siegel rejected the suggestion that AT&T; was going back on any pledge, saying AT&T; had previously said it would be adjusting its rates. AT&T; closed off 63 cents at $34.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.