Exhibit 31.1

                            CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
           18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PERSUANT TO SECTION 302
                        OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Arthur L. Smith, certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QA of ATSI
          Communications, Inc., a Delaware Corporation;
     2.   Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
          statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
          under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this report;
     3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
          information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
          material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
          cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
          this report;
     4.   The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
          establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
          registrant and have:

          a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which this report is being prepared;
          b)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in this report our
               conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
               and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
               report based on such evaluation; and
          c)   Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
               controls that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal
               quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
               annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
               likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal controls;
               and

     5.   The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
          on our most recent evaluation of internal controls, to the
          registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of
          directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

          (a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal control which are reasonably
               likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record,
               process, summarize and report financial; and
          (b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
               internal controls.

By /s/ Arthur L. Smith
Arthur L. Smith
Chief Executive Officer
December 31, 2003


<PAGE>