Don H Kemp <dhk@teletech.uucp> (01/11/90)
[Moderator's Note: Mr. Kemp has forwarded another AT&T Press Release
to us. Thank you, Don. PT]
FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1990
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- AT&T today announced its international
discount calling plan, called AT&T Reach Out (R) World. The FCC
tariff for this plan has been in effect since July 1, 1989.
Customers save 10 percent or more on calls made during Reach Out
World's hours. For a $3 per month fee, customers receive discounts on
calls to 25 of the most frequently called countries and overseas
areas: Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Australia,
France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Other countries and areas in the program are Denmark, Ireland,
Norway, Sweden, Monaco, Brazil, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, the
Philippines, Korea, Guam, Taiwan, Pakistan, Kuwait and Israel.
Reach Out World customers also receive a 5 percent discount on
direct-dialed interstate calls within the United States.
AT&T also announced today it will soon add nine new countries and
overseas areas to Reach Out World, including West Germany, Spain, Hong
Kong, Greece and Thailand.
John Berndt, president of AT&T International Communications
Services, said, "The dramatic reduction in international prices over
the last few years has democratized international calling. Our Reach
Out World plan is an example of how inexpensive and convenient it has
become. As the barriers between East and West and between the nations
of the world come down, telecommunications is leading the way toward a
world in which ideas flow freely."
A nationwide advertising campaign in support of the Reach Out
World plan will begin tomorrow in newspapers.
Reach Out World is part of a continuing effort by AT&T to make
international calling more convenient and affordable. On January 1,
AT&T reduced international calling prices by $104 million. The AT&T
Reach Out World calling rates also now reflect that reduction.
AT&T has offered discount calls to Canada through its Reach Out
(R) Canada program for three years. For the past two years, AT&T has
offered Reach Out (R) United Kingdom and Reach Out (R) Philippines.
The January 1 rate decrease and Reach Out World plan continues a
decades-long trend toward lower AT&T international rates. The average
price of an AT&T international call today is less than half the
average price of 15 years ago.
AT&T has also been working to make international calling easier
by adding Spanish-speaking representatives, introducing multilingual
capabilities and extending to more than 65 countries its USADirect
Service, which allows people phoning the U.S. from overseas to be
directly connected to an AT&T operator in the U.S.
At the same time, AT&T has expanded its Worldwide Intelligent
Network. In the next few weeks, AT&T will add the Philippines and
Taiwan links to a fiber-optic network that now stretches from Europe
to Asia. And later this year, AT&T plans to expand the fiber-optic
network to include Hong Kong and Korea in the Pacific, and Colombia,
Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
# # #
Don H Kemp "Always listen to experts. They'll
B B & K Associates, Inc. tell you what can't be done, and
Rutland, VT why. Then do it."
uunet!uvm-gen!teletech!dhk Lazarus LongAI.CLIVE@mcc.com (Clive Dawson) (01/12/90)
A comment regarding ATT's new Reach Out World program. I called ATT to inquire what the discount rate would be for calls to Mexico. I was told that the rate under Reach Out World would be $.15/minute, with an additional 5% discount on calls over 10 minutes. I told the rep this was too good to be true, and sure enough, it was. He said, "Of course, this applies only to the U.S. portion of the call up to the international boundary. We have no control over the foreign country rates." Blah. From Austin, the U.S. portion of the night-time rate to Mexico is currently $.14/minute, and I don't have to pay $3/month to get it! (The Mexican portion is about $.75/min -- that's the real killer.) Does anybody have any info regarding a rumor that the Mexican telephone industry was recently de-regulated and/or that the government has relinquished direct ownership? Clive