Article Abstract:
AT&T, in a bid to lure small businesses away from MCI Communications Corp, announces a plan called Partners in Business that provides discounts of up to 20 percent for companies that make between $25 and $2,000 in telephone calls a month. MCI's plan was announced the week of Apr 7, 1992, and signaled a heating-up of the long-distance price wars that had cooled off in recent months. Industry analysts say that the goal of the plans is to retain the current customer base while garnering new customers. To this end, AT&T offers the Area Code Option, which cuts 20 percent off calls within an area code if the customer is willing to sign an 18-month contract. Pro Wats customers can get an additional 5 percent discount by signing an 18-month contract. The company is also offering several combination discount plans. MCI's plan, Friends of the Firm, provides discounts for frequently called numbers of businesses that are also MCI customers.
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Article Abstract:
Telephone companies, including GTE Corp, American Information Technologies Corp, Bell Atlantic Corp and Pacific Telesis Group, are researching ways to re-engineer their telephone networks to accommodate television signals. The changeover could cost tens of billions of dollars. Telephone companies are encouraged by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s decision in mid-Oct 1991 to allow telephone companies to implement 'video dial tone,' services, which would allow telephone subscribers to order television programs by dialing their telephones. Such an interactive television system would put phone companies into direct competition with cable television companies. It is thought that allowing telephone companies into the television business could generate sufficient business and funds to pay for the installation of 'broadband' data channels adequate for the needs of an information-rich future.
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Article Abstract:
Computer and telephone technologies are coming together, making it possible to create 'virtual offices.' Digital Telemedia Inc uses pocket pagers, laptop computers and sophisticated telephone services as part of its communications consultancy. One of its customers, Image Axis Inc, sends photos to and from ad-agency clients over high-speed phone lines and avoids the need to do expensive thermal or laser proofing. Mezzina/Brown Inc, one of Image Axis' clients, is pleased with its digital communications arrangements, saying editing can be done up to the last minute. Computer integrated telephony is evolving toward multimedia, which will combine video and telephony. Integrated services digital network (ISDN) technology is already widely available, and by the end of the decade, ISDN will be overtaken by asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology, which is even faster and more efficient.
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