Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 17:20 GMT
From: "Tansin A. Darcos & Company" <0005066432@mcimail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: AT&T Doesn't Like MCI's Ads
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 585, Message 2 of 4

New Ads Heat up AT&T-MCI Rivalry
By Kent Gibbons
The Washington (DC) Times (July 21, 1992-Pg C1)
 
   AT&T and MCI's war of words is getting personal.

   The newest TV commercials for AT&T's long distance rates attack the
ethics behind MCI's recent spots promoting a new international calling
plan.

   American Telephone & Telegraph Co. says MCI used unfair comparisons
to claim savings of 45 percent or more off AT&T's rates.  MCI
Communications Corp matched its "Around the World" discount rates
against AT&T's basic rates, rather than its cheaper "Reach Out World"
discount plan for international calls.

   "Blatantly deceptive," said AT&T spokesman Jim McGann on behalf of
the nation's biggest long-distance company.

   "Fair," countered Debra Shriver of Washington-based MCI, the No. 2
carrier.

   Most AT&T customers make their international calls on the company's
basic plan, not "Reach Out World," Ms. Shriver insisted.  Besides, she
said, most of AT&T's advertised discounts compare with AT&T's basic
rates.

   "If they've been comparing their own rates to [basic] dial-1 rates,
why can't we do it?" she said.

   "How can that be fair?" Mr. McGann said of the MCI ads.  "You've
got to compare comparable plan to comparable plan.  If someone makes a
lot of international calls, it would make sense for them to sign up
for 'Reach Out World'.

   For example, an MCI spot claims a call to France on its new plan
would save 57 percent against AT&T's basic rate.  Part of that savings
comes from designating one foreign number as part of MCI's "Friends &
Family" plan.

   For any other numbers in France, AT&T says, the savings against its
international discount plan would be 1.6 percent.

   Stoking the fires, Mr. McGann called reporters yesterday about his
company's ads, which first aired over the weekend.  AT&T also provided
videotapes and transcripts.

   AT&T and MCI have never hidden their mutual dislike.  MCI helped
hasten the breakup of the telephone monopoly with antitrust lawsuits
in the 1970s.  And in 1989 the two companies sued each other with
claims of unfair advertising.  They settled out of court.

   MCI has always compared its rates with AT&T's, even erecting
electronic toteboards to show the supposed savings MCI's customers
have enjoyed over AT&T users.  The latter's commercials have jabbed at
MCI's popular "Friends & Family" plan, in which MCI callers get extra
savings if they sign up other customers.  Sprint, No. 3 in the
long-distance market, has taken on both rivals.

   But the new AT&T ads aim squarely at MCI's credibility.

   "Do you judge a company's ethics by their advertising?" an
off-camera voice asks a man in an antique restoration shop in one
spot.  Answering more questions, the man says the MCI ads promise 50
percent savings through "Friends Around the World" but says he did not
realize the savings wer off AT&T's basic rate.

   Why doesn't the MCI advertising compare discount plans?  "I think
the answer is obvious," the man replies.

   In another commercial, a woman says the advertising would change her
opinion about the advertiser.

   Ms. Shriver said MCI stands by its ads and has no plans to change
them or lob an attack back at AT&T.

                             -------------

Paul Robinson      TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM or 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM 

By the way, I have two phone lines at home, one is on MCI and the
other is on AT&T.  The only thing I notice is that the bill is too
expensive ...