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Prodded by new competition from companies like MCI Communications and GTE-Sprint, A T & T announced a program that gives its 80 million residential customers credits toward buying 50 different products and services. By making $15 to $300 a month in long-distance calls, customers become eligible for reductions on Polaroid cameras, airline tickets and nights in a Howard Johnson's motel. If callers reach out and touch someone often enough or long enough, they can talk themselves into $500 off a Toyota truck. The A T & T plan is aimed at helping the company hang...
...chief challengers to A T & T are MCI and Sprint, small but nimble carriers that nibble away at A T & T's customers with high technology, growing networks and lower tolls. Along with lesser-knowns like Chicago's Allnet, the big competitors are mounting publicity and ad campaigns that would make Barnum proud. Actor
Cliff Robertson does the pitching in television ads for A T & T, while Comic Joan Rivers weighs in for MCI. Companies are offering lures aplenty. A T & T and MCI first gave away an hour of free long-distance time for signing up; Sprint quickly matched them. Before the campaign is over, each consumer in Alameda will be reached four times by mail or phone by Sprint promoting its discounts. There are promises of fee cuts and refunds if users are not satisfied. A T & T plays up services that its rivals cannot match. Examples: collect and person-to-person...
...revenues doubled annually between 1980 and 1983, going from $144 million to $1 billion. In that same period, profits mushroomed from $13 million to $171 million. Yet its share of the long-distance market is only 3.5%, 1.3 million residential customers and 300,000 business clients. Sprint has less than a 2% share, but it is rapidly adding more and now claims a customer base of 1 million, almost double that...
...rulings also had an impact on AT&T's long-distance competitors, such as MCI and GTE's Sprint. Since AT&T controls about 94% of the long-distance market, the agency has been trying to encourage more phone competition. The FCC last week reaffirmed its earlier decision that AT&T's competitors had to pay only 55% as much as AT&T to link up with local telephone networks. This means that the smaller companies should be able to continue charging lower prices than AT&T. Because of their discount rates, MCI and GTE are currently...