This should help.......AT&T Charging $3 Minimum Fee
By DAVID E. KALISH
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- All of AT&T Corp.'s long-distance customers will soon receive a $3 minimum monthly charge, even if they don't make any long-distance calls.
AT&T, which has 70 million long-distance customers, introduced a minimum monthly charge last August, charging the $3 to plan subscribers and new customers.
In July, AT&T customers not currently signed up for one of the company's calling plans will also be assessed the monthly fee.
About 10 million AT&T customers make less than $3 a month in calls. AT&T, the nation's largest telecommunications company, said it needs the money to cover the $300 million a year it costs to service infrequent callers.
Minimum charges, until now, had been more limited.
MCI WorldCom, the second largest long-distance company, also has a $3 monthly minimum for customers who don't use its promotional calling plans, but doesn't charge the fee to its remaining customers, a spokeswoman said.
No. 3 Sprint, conversely, only charges a minimum fee to those who sign up for promotions.
AT&T said it would waive the fee for some low-income customers. But consumer groups said charges are hurting those customers least able to afford it.
''AT&T's new minimum charge is the latest example of telecommunications deregulation run amok, driving up prices for millions of consumers,'' said Gene Kimmelman, of the Washington-based Consumers Union, in a statement.
Kimmelman noted that other fees, ranging from $2-3 a month, already were instituted in the wake of telecommunications deregulation in 1996.
AP-NY-04-07-99 0032EDT
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