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AT&T Adds New Fee for Long-Distance Service

Posted on: Monday, 7 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

Jul. 6--Customers of AT&T, the dominant long-distance service provider in the United States, will pay more for long-distance calls when they get their bills this month.

The company is adding a new, 99-cent monthly charge to most of its bills.

The "Regulatory Assessment Fee," which went into effect Tuesday, will help AT&T cover typical business expenses, such as property taxes.

Although the fee sounds as if it was mandated by the government, it is an AT&T-created surcharge.

"The Regulatory Assessment Fee will help AT&T recover the costs associated with interstate access charges, regulatory compliance and advocacy costs and property taxes," the company said on its Web site.

"In the competitive environment we are in, we cannot continue to absorb these costs."

The fee is charged to AT&T long-distance customers any month in which long-distance calls are made. The fee doesn't apply to low-income customers enrolled in AT&T's Lifeline program.

Another new fee that begins this month is being charged to AT&T Wireless customers. The "Regulatory Programs Fee" of $1.75 per wireless line, is assessed each month.

AT&T Wireless told its customers the new fee will help it comply with several government-mandated programs, such as enhancing the company's 911 wireless system and making it possible for wireless customers to keep their phone numbers when they switch carriers.

AT&T Wireless said that it would eliminate this charge once it recovers its costs for complying with these mandates.

This fee will be in addition to the E911 surcharge of $1 a month assessed on all telephone lines in Rhode Island. (The General Assembly directs about 1/3 of that fee to the state's 911 system, and the rest goes towards general state spending.)

AT&T customers aren't the only ones affected this month.

MCI raised its "property tax surcharge" to 1.4 percent from 0.5 percent on July 1.

Other carriers, including Sprint, have raised non-mandatory fees this year as well.

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To see more of the Providence Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.projo.com

(c) 2003, Providence Journal, R.I. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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