MCI launched the battle in May with 1-800-COLLECT, promising low-cost collect calls from any telephone. Last week AT&T countered with its 1-800-OPERATOR. While the giants roar at each other, their real targets lie elsewhere. Many pay phones now route long-distance calls to alternative carriers charging far higher rates. If AT&T and MCI can get customers to memorize the new 800 numbers, they may recapture a good part of that business.
Price cutting is long overdue. High prices for collect calls date to the days when an operator had to stay on the line. But “many of these things are mechanized, and the cost isn’t all that high at this point,” says Boston consultant Lee Selwyn. AT&T’s latest gadgetry handles collect calls automatically: a computer will ask the caller’s name, replay it for the recipient and put the call through.
Why is the contest of the 800 numbers breaking out now? Only since May have all 800 numbers been available to any customer of any phone company. Until then, for instance, 1-800-COLLECT was reserved for customers of Telecom Canada. MCI could not have used it. AT&T couldn’t have come back with 1-800-OPERATOR, either: the number belonged to MCI.
