For those working on telecommunications issues, this price increase by
one of America's largest pay phone operators makes the issue of access to
alternative services, such as cell phones and pre-paid calling cards even
more important.  suddenly, they are all getting cost competitive.

Kelly


Chicago Tribune

Pay-phone rate jumps to 50 cents, covers call

By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter
July 7, 2001

If you can find a pay phone these days, a local call will soon cost 50
cents.

Ameritech's parent company, SBC Communications Inc., said Friday it will
raise pay-phone calls to 50 cents from 35 cents by September because of
the public
phone's dwindling profitability.

Ameritech and SBC have tried twice in recent years to sell their
pay-phone operations but couldn't find a buyer. Consequently, SBC has
been closing less
profitable pay phones, and the company said the price increase is needed
to slow pay-phone attrition.

"This price increase will address our efforts to keep as many of our pay
phones in place as possible for those who use and depend upon them," said
Randall
Feger, president of SBC Public Communications.

The increase affects all SBC-owned phones in states from California to
Connecticut and will be phased in phone by phone. All Chicago-area phones
operated
by Ameritech should be at the 50-cent level by September. The current
rate of 35 cents was set in 1997, up from a quarter, which was set in
1984.

Those local rates are for calls of 8 or fewer miles. Calls to areas
beyond 8 miles already cost 50 cents to initiate, and calls more than 15
miles cost
80 cents. Those two rates will remain unchanged.

One bright spot for pay-phone users is that the new 50-cent rate for
local calls under 8 miles will become a flat rate for the entire call.
The current
rate is 35 cents for the first three minutes and then 25 cents for
another three minutes.

Ameritech doesn't provide information about how many pay phones it
operates, but it is probably in the range of 72,000 to 74,000, said
Michael Ward, attorney
for the Illinois Public Telephone Association, which represents
independent pay-phone operators.

Ward said Ameritech has been shutting down pay phones at a steady pace
and probably had about 80,000 in operation here in 1996 when it first
tried to sell
the system.

Prepaid phone cards, cell phones and dial-around long-distance services
have combined to make traditional pay phones less profitable, Ward said.
But independent
operators, who together have about 22,000 to 24,000 phones in the Chicago
region, would like to increase the phones they operate, he said.

"We'd like to grow our numbers, but municipalities resist having more pay
phones on the street," said Ward.

SBC's move to 50 cents will probably draw a mixed reaction from pay-phone
competitors, he said.

"Some will probably follow suit, maybe going up to 45 cents to increase
revenues," Ward said.

"Others will stay at 25 or 35 cents and push harder to generate traffic
by emphasizing the price gap with Ameritech."


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