Complaint line: some AT&T clients gripe that cost cuts are hurting service; employees, too, complain - about job security and multiple transfers; the downside of downsizing

Article Abstract:

Customers and employees alike are complaining about AT&T's restructurings. Whereas customers complain of lower quality services because of cost reduction measures at the firm, employees are upset over the management's unpredictable and changing plans. And after years of reliability in the 1970s and 1980s, the firm's long-distance services have experienced major outages four times within 1990 and 1991. Inexperienced technical support is a typical complaint cited by customers, and workers complain because of abrupt facility shutdowns and transfers. AT&T's troubles have been a benefit to competitors such as Northern Telecom Co, which has overtaken AT&T's lead as switching equipment supplier. Some analysts believe AT&T's problems may relate to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ceiling on price setting, which keeps customer prices down but encourages AT&T to reduce overhead. Others believe the firm has lost close contact with its clients because of its regional network consolidation.

Evaluation, Telecommunications services industry, Telecommunications industry, Telephone companies, T, Customer service, Public opinion, Long-distance telephone service, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., Reliability (Trustworthiness), Cost control, Reliability, Industry Analysis, Outlook, Competition, Employee Relations, Telephone Company, Cost Reduction, Reorganization, Telecommunications Service

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AT&T signs big contract to supply former Soviet republic with phone gear

Article Abstract:

AT and T Network Systems International has contracted with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to provide a digital switching system to connect one million telephone lines by 2002, effectively tripling the number of phone lines currently in Kazakhstan. The contract should bring in over $200 million in revenue for AT and T. AT and T has been working its way into the overseas market, particularly into the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which were given a paucity of technological advances by the ousted Soviet Union. AT and T's contracts with those countries have included equipment orders since Nov 1991, and in the Ukraine, AT and T is building and operating a system of which it is part owner. These contracts put AT and T into strong competition with European telephone suppliers such as Siemens AG, Alcatel and LM Ericsson. Payment from the CIS for AT and T's services may be bartered.

Purchasing, Telecommunications systems, Contracts, Kazakhstan, Telecommunications switching equipment, Telecommunication systems, Telephone systems, Telephone System, Market Penetration, Sales Contracts, AT&T Network Systems International B.V.

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