AT&T files to offer customers a choice in local service.CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 1995--AT&T, saying consumers and businesses deserve a choice, Wednesday Wednesday: see week. asked Illinois Illinois, river, United States Illinois, river, 273 mi (439 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, NE Ill., and flowing SW to the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill. It is an important commercial and recreational waterway. and Michigan Michigan (mĭsh`ĭgən), upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E). regulators for approval to offer local telephone service here and in Grand Rapids Grand Rapids, city (1990 pop. 189,126), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state, it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, , Mich. If approved, today's action would give customers their first real opportunity to make a choice in buying local telephone service. "When customers have a choice in buying products and services, they always get a better deal," said Joseph P. Nacchio, president of AT&T Consumer Communications Services. "Competition in local telephone service is in the public interest, since it will mean more features, faster innovation and better value -- all the things that customers currently enjoy in the competitive long-distance long-dis·tance adj. 1. Covering a long distance: a long-distance runner; operating under long-distance supervision. 2. market." AT&T's applications filed today ask the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Michigan Public Service Commission to certify cer·ti·fy v. cer·ti·fied, cer·ti·fy·ing, cer·ti·fies v.tr. 1. a. To confirm formally as true, accurate, or genuine. b. the company as a provider of local service, both through its own facilities and through the resale resale n. selling again, particularly at retail. In many states a "resale license" or "resale number" is required so that the state can monitor the collection of sales tax on retail sales. RESALE. of local service, in the Chicago metropolitan area “Chicagoland” redirects here. For for the racing venue, see Chicagoland Speedway. The Chicago metropolitan area is the metropolitan area associated with the city of Chicago in the United States. and the western part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula Lower Peninsula also Lower Michigan The section of Michigan between Lakes Michigan and Huron and south of the Straits of Mackinac. Noun 1. . In an important related matter, AT&T and other long-distance carriers say they have developed the technical and software breakthroughs necessary to respond to consumers' and businesses' desire to keep their current telephone numbers when they choose to switch local phone companies. The long-distance industry has insisted for years that unless customers are allowed to keep their own phone numbers, true local phone competition will never be possible. AT&T's local service offering is to be conducted as part of Ameritech's plan that one month ago won support from the U.S. Department of Justice. Nacchio said that plan has important conditions necessary to foster local competition, including unbundling A regulatory requirement that enables a competing service provider to purchase parts of the incumbent local exchange carrier's network in order to provide service to its customers. See ILEC. of basic network functions into pieceparts that potential competitors can buy "a la carte" and enabling callers to dial any number without extra digits or "codes," regardless of local carrier. "And the plan gets the sequence right: First we must see commercially viable competition developing in the local exchanges, to ensure that the local exchange company cannot leverage its monopoly position to harm competition in the marketplace," said Nacchio. "If and when that occurs, and only then, is it appropriate to discuss whether Ameritech should be permitted to offer long-distance service." Nacchio pointed out that AT&T has more than 30,000 employees in Ameritech's five-state territory, some 18,000 of whom work in Illinois and Michigan. In Chicago, AT&T is the city's fifth largest private employer. AT&T has aggressively promoted giving customers a choice of carriers in all local markets. The company urged legislators in all other states to remove restrictions that make it illegal, if not impossible, for customers to have a choice in local service other than from the established monopoly provider. Nacchio noted that AT&T has been calling for several years for an evaluation of local exchange competition "to see which technical, economic and marketing arrangements, or conditions, might make it happen." CONTACT: AT&T Mark Trierweiler (Chicago), 312/230-5217 (office), pager: 1-800-SKY-PAGE/PIN: 5018535#, or Jim McGann (Washington, D.C.), 202/457-3942 (office), 301-585-5519 (home). |
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