MCI Boosts Phone Rates Under Local Calling Plans
Posted on: Friday, 21 November 2003, 06:00 CST
Nov. 21--MCI has raised monthly rates for residential customers in its legacy local calling plans, but not for those who subscribe to its newer "Neighborhood" calling plan.
Audrey Waters, a spokeswoman for MCI, said rates in most of the legacy plans, such as MCI Local Choice, increased by $1 a month, to $33.99.
As a competitive company, MCI is free to charge whatever it wants for telephone service, although it has competitive reasons to keep rates below those of market giant Verizon Communications.
MCI said another increase of 50 cents will be added to the monthly network access charge, bringing that fee to $6.50 per line. In addition, customers with international calling plan add-ons, such as Anytime Classic International Weekend, saw a $1 increase in that rate, to $4 a month.
Legacy plans typically include both local and long-distance services, but are no longer open to new customers. Any MCI customer who wants a package like that now must sign up for the Neighborhood plan, which includes more calling, but is slightly more expensive.
MCI, which originally was a long-distance company, has offered local residential telephone service in Pennsylvania since the summer of 2000 and is now the fourth-largest residential service provider in the state. It had 195,000 customers at the end of 2002, according to the state Public Utility Commission. The company would not update that figure.
MCI will provide service in Verizon's original territory, but not the former GTE territory or the territories of 35 or so small phone companies in the state.
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(c) 2003, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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