Telegroup slashes phone rates in response to AT&T rate hike
Fairfield, IA-- Challenging recent rate increases by the Big Three phone companies, Telegroup today cut the price of domestic long distance calls by 7.75 percent.
Congress intended the landmark Telecommunications Reform Act to spur competition and lower prices. Instead, nearly 45 million AT&T customers received bad news just before the holidays--notice of a basic rate increase of 5.9 percent.
"Though Telegroup and other resellers are dropping their rates, AT&T, Sprint and MCI are counting on most customers to be too lazy to look for discount plans," says Telegroup President Cliff Rees. "Telegroup, on the other hand, believes in aggressively informing the public of their options."
In June, Telegroup, the sixth largest international carrier in the U.S., unveiled a free consumer service on the Internet -- www.callcost.com -- which compares domestic and international rates of four leading carriers: AT&T, MCI, Sprint and Telegroup.
"Telegroup's campaign to educate the public puts pressure on the big carriers to tell the public about their phone options," says Van Hefner, publisher of Long Distance Digest, an Internet publication. "Unfortunately, many small businesses continue to pay around $1.09 per minute for calls to the United Kingdom, for example, even though the competitive rate is closer to Telegroup's price of 20 cents per minute."
Inc. magazine ranked Telegroup among America's fastest-growing privately held companies for the past two consecutive years. To reach Telegroup, consumers may call 1-800-338-0225.
###
