AT&T EARNINGS, UNPAID BILLS UP.Byline: Mark Landler Mark Aurel Landler (born October 26, 1965 in Stuttgart, Germany[1]) is an American journalist who has been the European economic correspondent of The New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, since July 2002[2]. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times AT&T is finally holding on to its customers. Now, if it can just get more of them to pay their phone bills. AT&T said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter income from continuing operations continuing operations Parts of a business that are expected to be maintained as an ongoing segment of an overall business operation. Income and losses from continuing operations are reported separately if any segments have been discontinued during the rose 14.2 percent, to $1.24 billion, helped by a new flat rate-calling plan that has stanched the flow of customers to other long-distance carriers. But earnings still fell short of Wall Street analysts' expectations because of higher costs from unpaid bills. Excluding special items, the company said its earnings rose to 76 cents a share in the fourth quarter, compared with 68 cents a share a year earlier. Those results were 3 cents to 4 cents below the average forecast of analysts. AT&T's revenue increased 2.7 percent, to $13.2 billion. After months of eroding market share and management turmoil, the stable results were a relief to many analysts who follow AT&T. But they noted that the company, the nation's largest long-distance carrier, still faced a treacherous future, as deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. opens its market to competition from the seven regional Bell telephone companies and GTE GTE General Telephone & Electronics GTE Génie Thermique et Énergie (French) GTE Gas Turbine Engine GTE Global Tropospheric Experiment GTE Geothermal Energy GTE Gas Turbine Efficiency plc (Sweden & USA) . ``Even if they stop the drop in market share of customers, it doesn't solve their problems in the future,'' said Frank Governali of CS First Boston First Boston Corporation was a New York-based investment bank, founded in 1932 and acquired by Credit Suisse in 1988, when it became 'CS First Boston'. Globally referred to as Credit Suisse First Boston after 1996, the First Boston part of the name was phased out in 2006. . AT&T's shares declined 50 cents Wednesday, to $38.875, in brisk New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. trading. The company said it had to budget an extra $200 million in the fourth quarter to cover unpaid bills, primarily from business customers. Simon Flannery, a telecommunications analyst at J.P. Morgan, said the cost of covering these bad debts could total $400 million for all of 1997. AT&T's chief financial officer, Richard Miller Richard Miller may be:
``It used to be the case that if you didn't pay your bill, your service was canceled and you couldn't live with that,'' Miller said, ``That threat doesn't work as well anymore.'' Like other carriers, AT&T recently began mailing bills directly to residential customers in some markets, rather than relying on the Bell companies and GTE to include AT&T charges as separate items on their bills. Other long-distance carriers are also grappling with collection problems, analysts said, as they take on direct billing direct billing Managed care The submission of bills for services rendered–eg lab work directly to the party–ie Pt or financially responsible third party–insurance company, for whom the service was performed, rather than to the physician who ordered the test responsibility. An executive at AT&T said Wednesday that the company's billing systems were coming under sharp scrutiny from the new president, John Walter, and from Gail McGovern, whom Walter named in December to take over the company's giant consumer long-distance business. In addition to the billing problem, a 32.3 percent decline in revenue at the financial services unit, which consists largely of the AT&T Universal Card, hurt the company's quarterly earnings. Though customer accounts increased to 18.3 million in 1996 from 17.6 million in 1995, AT&T was hurt by declining use and higher promotional costs. |
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