AT&T Corp. said Wednesday it will begin charging its basic-rate customers monthly fees to recover costs it must pay to Baby Bell companies for handling long-distance calls, even if its customers avoid using AT&T.
The company changed its mind about the fees because it is losing sales to “dial-around” services such as “10-321” which let customers make long-distance calls without switching providers.
Long-distance carriers pay the Baby Bells and GTE Corp. 53 cents a month to complete calls on each customer’s primary line and $1.50 each for the customer’s additional lines. AT&T wants to pass along those costs.
AT&T hasn’t decided how much it will charge its 35 million basic-rate customers. Last month, it imposed a 95-cent monthly fee on customers using discount plans.
