Phone company to hike charge

AT&T Corp. will boost by 15 percent customer charges for contributions to a rural phone service fund after the Federal Communications Commission ordered an increase in fees paid by long-distance companies.

Starting Monday, the No. 1 U.S. long-distance phone company will raise the Universal Connectivity Charge to 9.9 percent of state-to-state and international long-distance calls from 8.6 percent, spokesman Mark Siegel said in New York.

The increase responds to a boost in the amount long-distance companies are assessed to subsidize phone service in rural areas ordered Dec. 8 by the FCC, Siegel said. The FCC had blocked a 50 percent increase that AT&T proposed in October 1999.

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