AT&T Wants To Drop Old ServicesAT&T to Stop Operator Assisted Services, Seeks FCC ApprovalAT&T has petitioned the FCC to discontinue what the telecom considers obsolete services such as collect calling and other operator-assisted offerings that have declined sharply over the past decade AT&T has applied for an approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to drop its operator assisted services like collect calling, person-to-person calling, billed to third party, Busy Line Verification (BLV), Busy Line Interruption (BLI), and International Directory Assistance from its operational portfolio. The company, which is the second largest U.S. wireless carrier in terms of subscriber count, cites steady decline in usage of these services due to obsolescence as the main reason behind the move. AT&T seeks to terminate these services in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Numbers Keep Sliding AT&T highlighted that its operator-assisted calls have declined annually at a rate of 18% over the last five years. Moreover, its total operator assisted service traffic plunged 93% from the 2004 levels, with the last two years witnessing around 19% fall. The Problem Any declining activity is detrimental for a company and creates operational headwinds. Companies incur fixed costs relating to the same and decreasing revenues create pressure on operational cash flows. Dismal service figures, coupled with increasing pressure to manage its core telecom business due to rising competition from peers like Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc., has compelled AT&T to apply to the FCC for discontinuation of the abovementioned legacy services. Source: NASDAQ | |
