Good with the bad: Service announcements accompany downsizing news

AT&T's strategy for the next two years will be to provide "a new generation of universal communications services," AT&T chairman C. Michael Armstrong announced last week.

Leading the way to that goal are plans for a new network architecture. The nation's largest carrier will complete its Sonet buildout program this year, with a total of 52 fiber rings delivering transmission, Armstrong said. AT&T also will test a new high-capacity wave division multiplexing system from Lucent Technologies (see story on page 10).

"We now have 32 [rings] in service, and the last 20 will be up by the end of the year," said an AT&T spokesman. "All 52 are AT&T rings that will give us coast-to-coast connectivity carrying any type of traffic-voice, video and data."

AT&T will gain additional fiber rings through its acquisition of Teleport Communications Group, the spokesman said.

The carrier will be able to offer end-to-end connections from one customer site to another. "We're targeting all customers, but certainly large businesses have larger demands for capacity and services, and our objective is to be a provider of both," the spokesman said.

Armstrong also announced plans to offer two new consumer services. AT&T WorldNet Voice will carry high-quality voice calls over the carrier's Internet backbone network for between 7.5 cents and 9 cents a minute. The company will begin limited market trials in the second quarter, Armstrong said.

"It sounds like they're aiming for quality better than what's available with phone calls over the PC, but not as good as pure voice," said Steve Koppman, a senior analyst with DataQuest. "You'll have to dial three access numbers even before dialing the number you're trying to reach. Still, it could be a quality offering and just announcing it has restored some forward momentum to AT&T."

AT&T One Rate Online will be available in March. Customers will be able to order long-distance service directly from the company's Web site and-for a $1 monthly fee-receive a rate of 10 cents a minute on direct-dial, state-to-state calls made from home.

Armstrong's pronouncements came amid announced plans to cut AT&T's long-distance work force by 15,000 to 18,000 during the next two years. Most of those cuts are expected to be management employees, many of whom will be offered voluntary early retirement.