Newspaper Page Text
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL THURS., SEPT. 24, 1f74,
*• * *
Cites Urgent Need
| GTE Files Rate Hike
1 * ’
For Revenue ’
M*' v
General Telephone Com
pany of the Southeast Last
Friday filed with the Public
Service Commission an ap
plication requesting rate
increases which would
produce $4 9 million in ad
ditional annual revenue.
The rate application in
cluded a request for per
mission to increase the charge
for a coin telephone call to 20
cents, and to charge
customers for Directory
Assistance service when the
number they request is listed
in the current telephone
directory
In announcing the rate
application, EH Blanton,
General’s Georgia Vice
President and General
Manager, said the higher
rales are essential if the
, Company is to continue
■ meeting the growing demand
Jr for new and expanded com
»'• munications service in its
L - .' Georgia operating areas.
. "Spiraling inflation has hit
the telephone industry hard,”
t Blanton said "The higher
I-, costs of doing business have
.deteriorated our earnings
> levej to the point that the
s Company's ability to attract
! 4>ad)y needed capital is in
/fjjeopardy.”
f{e said during 1973-74,
„ General has invested more
| than $36 million in new
£ telephone facilities in
> J'Geor'giii And, during the next
£ five fjfears additional in
vestments of almost SIOO
J* million will be required to
i t meet customers needs for
U adequate telephone service.
,i‘ “We simply must improve
£ Our earnings in order to at
J;tract lhal much capital," he
» said, "and we can't improve
jjwur' earnings without the
revenue we have
I’roqjiested."
£ Clltnlon noted that the
£jC|t|Winy's last rate increase
upon the Com
Crpanykcosl of doing business
;! during 1 1971.
“tR (st of providing
lelepßbne service has risen
sharjjy since 1971, despite our
yiesl efforts to cut expense
* through increased es
• ies," he said “The fact
\ls tluri additional revenues
from Hie increase placed into
effect in 1973 have been en
Je-tirely offset by increased
Vt costs."
w Blanton said the Company's
V requests lor permission to
P, charge lor Directory
Assistance and to increase the
V price of a coin telephone call
are designed to recover a
y larger portion of the cost of
U providing those services from
the customers who use them
t! the most
I' "Statistics show that about
V 10 percent of our customers
'J make about 60 percent of the
calls to Directory Assistan
!• ce." Blanton said. "The cost of
, providing the service,
t, however, is shared equally by
. all of our customers We feel it
would be much more equitable
\ to ask the customers who use
jj Directory Assistance to pay
| lor it."
t He further stated that
I studies of the service have
(* shown that about 75 percent of
I'; the calls to Directory
V Assistance are for numbers
i' currently listed in the
. directory
"By charging our customers
• when they request a telephone
.number that is listed in a
we hope to reduce
‘the number of calls being
‘made to the service, thus
; holding down our requirement
for additional operators and
. equipment. The money that
* would have been spent for
( meeting the ever-increasing
volume of calls to Directory
v Assistance could then be used
in providing new and im
i proved local service to our
( customers."
I The plan filed with the
> Public Service Commission
; proposes that a customer
(would be charged 20 cents
each time he calls Directory
Assistance for a number that
, is listed in the current
directory. There would be no
charge if a customer calls for
[an unlisted or a non-published
PAGE 10-A
number. Blind, handicapped
and illiterate customers not
able to use a telephone
directory would be exempt
from the charge There would
also be no charge for Direc
tory Assistance requests from
coin telephones, or for long
distance Directory
Assistance
Details of the plan will vary
from exchange to exchange,
depending upon whether
Directory Assistance services
are provided by General
Telephone or by connecting
company long distance cen
ters.
As for the coin telephone
rate increase, Blanton said the
cost of a pay phone call has
t>een only 10 cents for more
than 20 years, despite
Iremendous increases in
Perry Area Proposal
I Party 2 Parly 1 Parly Multi-Party
BUSINESS
New Kate 24.70 22.30 19.45 19.45
Old Kale 21.15 19.20 17.25 17.25
Increase of 3.55 3.10 2.20 2.20
RESIDENTIAL
New Kate 12.35 11,20 9.80 9 80
Old Kale 9.45 7.70 8.25 8.25
Increase ol 2.90 3.50 3.55 3.55
Home Journal Research
Reasons For Request
Divulged By Company
(The Home Journal
researched General
Telephone's reasoning for
requesting rate increases and
lias turned up the following
information.)
DIRECTORY
ASSISTANCE CHARGING
The Directory Assistance
service is intended to provide
customers with telephone
numbers not found in the
current directory - non
published numbers and new
listings, for example.
Statistics show, however, that
about 75 percent of the calls to
Directory Assistance are for
numbers currently listed in
the directory.
The principal users of DA
are both business and
residence customers who - in
most instances think it's
easier to call Directory
Assistance than to look up the
number themselves.
By charging for DA,
General Telephone hopes to
reduce the number of calls
being made to the service,
thus holding down its
requirement for additional
operators and equipment. The
money that would have been
spent tor meeting the ever
Books Reviewed By-
Wednesday Book Club
The Wednesday Afternoon
Book Club held its first
meeting of the 1974-75 year at
the home of Mrs E.P. Staples
with Mrs. W.E. Marshall
serving as co-hostess This
September 18th meeting was
the 40th anniversary of the
club's organization in Sep
tember, 1934
The president, Mrs Cohen
Walker, opened the meeting
with thoughts on the an
niversary occasion and read
the names of the original
Charter Members. The
Charter Members still active
in the club are: Mrs. J.L.
Beavers, Mrs. J.B Calhoun,
Sr., Mrs T.D. Mason, Sr.,
Mrs. W.T. Middlebrooks, Mrs.
S.L. Norwood, Mrs. D M.
Ryle and Mrs. A.P. Whipple.
Mrs. T.D Mason, Sr., in
troduced her granddaughter,
Mrs. Jerome Bloodworth, who
gave a fascinating and
thought-provoking review of
expenses during that period of
time.
“The cost of just the coin
telephone itself has increased
sevenfold during the past 20
years," Blanton said. “The 10
cent rale simply isn't
adequate to cover the cost of
providing coin telephones
today."
The Vice President also
explained that the rate ap
plication includes a request
lhal the Company be allowed
to implement a rate struc
turing concept known as “rale
band grouping", He said
under this concept, already
implemented by many
telephone companies, the
rales in each telephone ex
change would be based upon
“calling scope”, or the
number of telephones a
increasing volume of calls to
DA could then be used in
providing new and improved
local service to GTE’s
customers.
And by charging for
Directory Assistance, most of
the expense of providing the
service would be paid by those
customers who use it heavily,
not all telephone users.
Under the DA charging
proposal GTE filed with the
Public Service Commission,
the customer would be
charged 20 cents every time
he called Directory Assistance
lor a telephone number that is
listed in the current directory.
Blind, handicapped, and
illiterate customers not able to
use a telephone directory
would be exempt from the
charge. There would, of
course, be no charge for long
distance Directory
Assistance.
THE COIN
TELEPHONE INCREASE
General Telephone
presently has more than 1,400
coin telephones in operation
throughout its Georgia service
areas.
A local call from any of
these pay phones costs only 10
Erick Von Daniken’s "Chariot
of the Gods", a controversial
book of the author's ideas and
opinions documented by facts
found in his worldwide
travels. Mrs. Bloodworths
talented presentation held
everyone’s attention
Mrs Hugh Lawson in
troduced Mrs. Jerome Walker
who gave a warm and sen
sitive review of Anne Morrow
Lindberg s "Hour of Gold,
Hour of Lead", the second
volume of her diaries and
letters covering her early
married years and the
tragedy of her first sons
kidnapping and death. Mrs.
Walker s enthusiasm was
infectious.
During the social hour the
hostesses served a delicious
salad plate climaxed by in
dividual pink frosted cakes
topped with burning candles in
the anniversary tradition
customer could call without
making a toll call.
Blanton said that some of
the firm's exchanges are
paying rates not in proportion
to their calling scope. He said
to achieve the new rate
structure, it would be
necessary lor the percentage
increase to vary between
exchanges to establish rate
band groups.
“No business likes to raise
its prices, and we re no ex
ception,'' Blanton concluded.
“Because of the drastic cost
increases we’ve experienced,
however, we are compelled to
seek financial relief. We
simply must improve our
earnings position if we are to
continue meeting the com
munications needs of our
customers."
cents. The cost of a pay phone
call has been only 10 cents for
more than 20 years, despite
tremendous increases in
expenses during that period of
time.
The cost of a coin telephone
itself, lor example, has in
creased sevenfold during the
past 20 years. Telephone
booths cost three times what
they did in 1952.
The 10 cent rate simply isn't
adequate to cover the cost of
providing and maintaining
coin telphones today.
General Telephone’s intent
in asking for a 20 cent charge
lor coin telephone calls is to
recover a greater portion of
the costs of providing the
service by asking more of
those who create the expense.
“We're sure most of our
customers will agree that
those people who use the
service should bear more of
the cost. Placing more of the
expense on these customers
will help us to keep basic
monthly telephone rates as
low as possible for all of our
customers," a GTE
spokesman said.
RATE GROUPINGS
General Telephone Com
pany's rate application to the
Public Service Commission
includes a request that it be
allowed to implement a rate
structuring concept known as
“rate band grouping".
Under this concept, already
implemented by many
telephone companies, the
rates in each telephone ex
change would be based upon
the "calling scope ", or the
number of main telephones in
the exchange.
In other words, customers in
a small exchange who could
call only about 1,000
telephones locally would not
pay as much as a customer in
a large exchange who could
call several thousand
telephones locally.
The idea, of course, if that
the more telephones a
customer can call without
calling long distance - the
more his telephone is worth to
him
The rate for customers in
exchanges that have EAS will,
of course, be based not on the
number of phones in their
exchange, but the number of
phones they can call locally
and through EAS.
I HR€H€R€ I
| }
I SHOW TIME OjiilKx I
TOMORROW! JTBSsSSS 1 ; ■
FRIDAY i
| SEPTEMBER 27th ®
LOOK ClOSe dt Pinto Ru
_ 'v.
y JP* f B Maverick 4-pr.
l •5 rord
m - --
| Cars & Trucks ■ |
| Now! At
1 MOODY MOTOR
COMPANY I
v ->JI w
I !lt
Jvlvl 1 "I'Xv* 1
AND INTRODUCING THE 1975 if
•I;I;1;I;I wH
ft!;.;::
*.V,V, iViV,;
I The Economics- GRANADA GHIA ||
1 ne economics. elegance in a new ;p
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lts kee P- Granada doesn t hack
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and easv to maintain. Gas-
Ford Granada is designed to help
deal with such problems as j;!«;l;
:;jij;|:J: crowded roads, increased fuel cost _ . ;::j:J:j::
•:•s:s and maintenance. Granada is (jKAIN AUA *X : X
II il g ta?;ht o ™ri a ±j- DESIGNED TO COMBINE AN EFFICIENT USE ||
i : ; : i : i*: : s ' :e cars. So you can expect OF SPACE, FUEL AND MONEY
|:|;*:||j: excellent gas mileage. Yet there’s :•:•;■:£
;X;Xf family-size room inside. •:«•;•!
ivMv
•*•*•*•*•' *•***•*•*•
,*i**\V (VMv
The closer you look, the better we look. ||&
|| Moody Motor Co. [Blgflilfll |
Ford Corner Perry Georgia 11