At&T; Jumps Aboard Internet Bandwagon

AT&T Corp. said Tuesday it would begin selling access to the Internet next year, becoming the last of the major long-distance companies to offer connections to the global public data network.

While late to the Internet frenzy, AT&T has missed little. Most U.S. households do not have a personal computer and only about one in five of those that do are connected to an on-line service of any kind.

“There’s work to be done,” said John Petrillo, president of AT&T’s business communication services, noting the Internet can be hard to use and is not secure for some communication and most transactions.

AT&T announced three Internet-related businesses and said it hopes to make the network as simple to use as the telephone. But executives were vague on when key services would be ready, what equipment they would require and how much they would cost.