What's that number again?

Almost two decades after competition began to appear in the long-distance market, one of the last vestiges of the former monopoly is under siege. Today, you can get just about anything that AT&T offers from another long-distance carrier-but if you dial 1-800-555-1212 to check a toll-free listing, no matter who your carrier is, you'll reach AT&T.

Other IXCs haven't been eager to undertake the task of maintaining a nationwide database which, to be of any value, must include numbers for customers served by competitors. And for the moment at least, the FCC has ruled that AT&T owns the 1-800-555-1212 number. Competitors say this puts them at a disadvantage because AT&T charges them for each listing. Some of them absorb this cost-which includes the cost of providing the service to its own customers in its rate base-in order to compete with the former monopoly.

Recently, AT&T replaced a flat monthly listing charge of $14.48 per customer with a $3 monthly charge plus 37 cents per inquiry. Kathy Howard, AT&T's product manager for toll-free directory assistance, says the idea was to more equitably distribute the charges, adding that the company was required to structure the new pricing so that its own revenues would not increase. Kevin Cullen, group manager for Sprint, says the net effect has been to increase that company's average cost per customer listing.

Universal Directory Services Inc. has now entered the fray. The Hurst, Texas-based company initially offered a toll-free directory on the Internet and now provides toll-free directory services, which consumers nationwide can reach by dialing 1-800- 555-1414. The company plans to promote the number by putting 30% of its revenues back into advertising, according to Nelson Thibodeaux, UDSI's chief executive officer.

Why should consumers use the 1414 number instead of 1212 when neither one costs anything? Thibodeaux estimates that less than 600,000 of approximately 11 million toll-free numbers currently in use are listed with AT&T.

Howard declines to provide the total numbers listed with AT&T, but she points out that many numbers are not listed at the customer's request; neither are fax machines or pagers requiring a PIN. Thibodeaux claims, though, that alternative IXCs may attempt to minimize their AT&T charges by not listing customers under a certain size.

Using printed directories, predictive dialing and the like, UDSI has been prospecting for toll-free numbers, speaking directly to the companies with the numbers and offering to list them for a $9.95 monthly charge. Thibodeaux claims to have many numbers that AT&T doesn't, adding that by year's end, UDSI's database will be larger. And if UDSI doesn't have a number, says Thibodeaux, one of its operators will offer to do further research and call the person back.

Thibodeaux says he would like to deal with IXCs but doesn't need them. If an IXC provides 10,000 customer number listings or more, UDSI offers a 25% discount on the listing charges-except for customers who already have signed up directly. He says toll-free directory listings actually could become profitable for carriers rather than a business expense: UDSI is establishing the $9.95 price through its own efforts, so IXCs shouldn't have trouble charging their customers that amount.

UDSI may have a real opportunity here-especially since IXCs now have the motivation to promote the 1414 number to help reduce their per inquiry charges from AT&T. UDSI's biggest problem will be that AT&T has no plans to provide its own numbers. Undoubtedly, UDSI will prospect for them, but AT&T is bound to have better information about its own customers at the least. It will be interesting to see how many people start using both services-and which one they try first.

I wouldn't expect A&T to entail significant extra costs to defend this business. Howard admits that the company does not expect toll-free directory assistance to turn a significant profit on its own: Its purpose is to increase toll-free call volume. It strikes me that a company like UDSI could help achieve that goal.

The toll-free directory services story should also serve as a reminder that, if it's taken almost 20 years to see an assault on this final remnant of the long-distance monopoly, there's no reason to expect faster results in the local telephone service arena.