Re:Did April Fools Day Come Early This Year?

April 5, 1999

"Straight Talk" From AT&T? Did April Fools Day Come Early This Year?

AT&T issued a news release on March 25, highlighting the "Straight Talk"
included in its 1998 annual report.

"Straight Talk" from AT&T? This is an annual report we have got to see.

Assuming that the annual report delivers as promised, here are a couple of
"Straight Facts" you should expect to see:

• On access charges...AT&T and other long distance companies have all
  benefited from $11.8 billion in access charge cuts since 1991. While the
  FCC expected to see these reductions translated into lower rates for
  customers, most consumers are still waiting. Last year, FCC Chairman
  William Kennard sent a letter to the big three long distance companies
  citing a "growing body of evidence that the nation's largest long distance
  companies are raising rates when their costs of providing service are
  declining." Recently, the New York Public Service Commission recently
  directed AT&T to reduce its rates in the state by an additional $14 million
  because AT&T had not properly credited customers for the nearly $40 million
  in total access charge reductions the company received in 1998.

• On pricing...while AT&T has been pocketing access charge reductions,
  consumers - especially residential consumers - continue to pay the price.
  AT&T has hit residential and small business customers with a "silence tax" -
  assessing $60 a year to maintain the residence consumer account and $84 a
  year to maintain the small business customer even if the customer does not
  make a single toll call.

• On slamming...more than 70 percent of the consumer complaints in
  Bell Atlantic's northeast and mid-Atlantic region are generated as a result
  of slamming.

• On phony front groups...AT&T has established bogus "grassroots"
  organizations across the country to help spread misinformation about the
  telecommunications marketplace. AT&T's activities have been reported in
  newspapers including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
  Recently, Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) warned other grassroots groups
  of unethical tactics by the New Jersey Coalition for Local Telephone
  Competition, an AT&T front group.

• On data...AT&T is now controlling the largest cable monopoly,
  Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), which has an extensive cable network
  throughout the nation, and its network capacity to provide high-speed cable
  access to the Internet. While AT&T preaches open markets in the local phone
  market, the company is prohibiting Bell Atlantic and others from accessing
  their network and competing in the Internet backbone market. AT&T has even
  gone as far as refusing to accept Bell Atlantic advertisements for company
  products over its cable network.

Instead of delivering "Straight Talk," AT&T is "Talking Out of Both Sides of
its Mouth" - misrepresenting the facts, the data and its commitment to
consumers.

"Straight Talk" is what the current debate in telecommunications needs most
and what AT&T delivers least.

If you have any questions about Bell Atlantic's success in opening its local
markets to competition and serving all consumers, please e-mail me at
rabe@ba.com or call 215-963-6531.