Fcc Order May Lower Phone Bills No Effect Likely In 14-State Territory Served By Us West

Americans’ long-distance telephone bills could go down as much as $1 billion this year because of a federal agency’s decision to reduce the payments big carriers must make to most local companies.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-1 Thursday to order a cut in the charges longdistance carriers pay to local phone companies to begin and end long-distance calls.

But a spokesman for US West Communications said the ruling will have no effect in the 14 Western states it serves.

The Denver-based company adopted a lower rate schedule for long-distance access three years go, said Harry Grandstrom.

“The FCC order you see today exempts us,” he said. “Our customers have already benefited.”

Grandstrom said the US West access charge amounts to about 3 cents per minute. How that is passed on to the consumer is up to the company providing the longdistance service, he said.

Customers of other local telephone companies will see roughly 2 percent trimmed off their total bills by the FCC action, said Mark Uretsky, a chief economist at the agency Common Carrier Bureau.

The average long-distance bill for an AT&T customer is $17 a month, according to spokesman Herb Linnen. Two percent off that would save a customer 34 cents.

AT&T Corp. is the nation’s largest provider of long-distance service.

“It’s just a little bit of pocket change for the average longdistance telephone customer,” said Bradley Stillman, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America. “We’re glad to have it, but it’s nowhere near what customers deserve,” he said.