AT&T joins firms offering local phone service
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 November 2003, 06:00 CST
Tennesseans can now buy local phone service from longtime long distance provider AT&T.
AT&T announced Thursday it is selling both local service and a local/long distance package to residential customers in BellSouth's Tennessee and Alabama markets. The areas are among 35 states in which AT&T has said it would roll out new local service this year.
Tennessee customers can buy AT&T's local access for $25 per month and add long distance for $3.95 per month plus 7 cents per minute for long distance and local toll calls.
The company not only is going up against incumbent provider BellSouth, but also MCI's Neighborhood service -- an unlimited local/ long distance package that MCI has been selling in Tennessee for 18 months.
The new service won't include customers in local markets without BellSouth access, such as Halls and Farragut that use TDS Telecom. AT&T also said while its local/long distance package is available to all BellSouth customers, the local-only service won't be available to small pockets of BellSouth's most rural customers.
AT&T has been selling local service since 1999, when it entered markets in New York and Texas. Since then, the company said it chose not to introduce local service in Tennessee because the cost of leasing BellSouth's network to provide the service was too high.
But Jaimie Hardin, AT&T Southern Region vice president of law and government affairs, said, "We believe the timing was right based on a number of issues."
Market conditions and the regulatory climate played into its strategy, she said. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority recently decided to re-examine BellSouth's network leasing rates.
BellSouth spokesman Dennis Wagner said, "We've been facing competition for several years. BellSouth is aggressively responding by offering the bundles of services that our customers want."
Business writer Larisa Brass may be reached at 865-342-6318.
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