Att Corp

AT&T customers saw their monthly rate for basic residential phone service jump 22% this month to $16.45. The increase followed a 23% rate hike last year. And you know what? That's the good news. The bad news is that, beginning in January 2011, AT&T and other phone companies will be permitted to jack up basic rates as much as they want -- no regulatory limits will apply. "If you want to know what will happen then, look at how much their rates went up for directory assistance and call waiting and other services that were deregulated in 2006," said Denise Mann, who oversees telecom matters for the California Public Utilities Commission's consumer-watchdog division.

AT&T customers saw their monthly rate for basic residential phone service jump 22% this month to $16.45. The increase followed a 23% rate hike last year. And you know what? That's the good news. The bad news is that, beginning in January 2011, AT&T and other phone companies will be permitted to jack up basic rates as much as they want -- no regulatory limits will apply. "If you want to know what will happen then, look at how much their rates went up for directory assistance and call waiting and other services that were deregulated in 2006," said Denise Mann, who oversees telecom matters for the California Public Utilities Commission's consumer-watchdog division.

IPhone users guilty of hogging data could see their phone bills fattening. In a presentation to investors Wednesday, AT&T's head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, said that just 3% of iPhone users generate 40% of the data traffic on AT&T's cellphone network. As such AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, is likely to introduce a pricing system that would penalize heavy data users, encouraging them "to either reduce or modify their usage so they don't crowd out the other customers in those same cell sites," he said.

The list of corporate sponsors who have abandoned Tiger Woods grew a little longer Thursday as AT&T announced it has ended its agreement with the golfer. The telecommunications giant issued a brief statement, saying "[we] wish him well in the future." Woods had carried the AT&T logo on his bag and had acted as the official host of the AT&T National PGA Tour event. His image and name still appeared on the tournament's website Thursday. "AT&T is continuing its sponsorship of the AT&T National and we are looking forward to a successful tournament at Aronimink Golf Club next year," PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said in a statement.

The list of corporate sponsors who have abandoned Tiger Woods grew a little longer Thursday as AT&T announced it has ended its agreement with the golfer. The telecommunications giant issued a brief statement, saying "[we] wish him well in the future." Woods had carried the AT&T logo on his bag and had acted as the official host of the AT&T National PGA Tour event. His image and name still appeared on the tournament's website Thursday. "AT&T is continuing its sponsorship of the AT&T National and we are looking forward to a successful tournament at Aronimink Golf Club next year," PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said in a statement.

From the living room of his luxurious 10,000-square-foot midtown Manhattan apartment, Francesco Galesi built an empire that earned him a winter villa near Jamaica's Montego Bay, a 12-bedroom oceanfront castle on Long Island and a net worth of more than $400 million that once ranked him halfway up the Forbes 400 list of America's wealthiest. Galesi made his millions in real estate.

AT&T Corp. completed its purchase of MediaOne Group Inc. for about $44 billion, becoming the largest U.S. cable television provider serving more than 40% of pay-TV customers. The acquisition was completed for about $23 billion in cash and 606 million shares worth $20.3 billion, based on AT&T's closing share price Wednesday, the company said. That's far lower than the $58-billion value when the deal was announced in April 1999.

American Telephone & Telegraph Microelectronics of the United States and NEC Corp. of Japan announced Monday that they will jointly develop technology needed to make advanced future semiconductors. The two companies will develop technology to etch and design semiconductor chips that use circuits just 0.35 microns wide, they said. A micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter. The technology will be used for manufacturing by mid-1995, the companies said in a statement.

In an unusual collaboration that could help cement America's newly regained leadership in computer chip technology, AT&T, IBM, Motorola and Loral Corp. said Thursday that they would jointly develop a key manufacturing technology aimed at producing revolutionary advances in the power and sophistication of semiconductor chips.

IPhone users guilty of hogging data could see their phone bills fattening. In a presentation to investors Wednesday, AT&T's head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, said that just 3% of iPhone users generate 40% of the data traffic on AT&T's cellphone network. As such AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, is likely to introduce a pricing system that would penalize heavy data users, encouraging them "to either reduce or modify their usage so they don't crowd out the other customers in those same cell sites," he said.

In an unusual collaboration that could help cement America's newly regained leadership in computer chip technology, AT&T, IBM, Motorola and Loral Corp. said Thursday that they would jointly develop a key manufacturing technology aimed at producing revolutionary advances in the power and sophistication of semiconductor chips.

American Telephone & Telegraph Microelectronics of the United States and NEC Corp. of Japan announced Monday that they will jointly develop technology needed to make advanced future semiconductors. The two companies will develop technology to etch and design semiconductor chips that use circuits just 0.35 microns wide, they said. A micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter. The technology will be used for manufacturing by mid-1995, the companies said in a statement.

AT&T Corp. disclosed that it set aside $553 million to cover fees and charges that federal regulators say the company avoided paying on its popular long-distance calling cards.

AT&T Corp. agreed to market phone and multimedia services on Infoseek Corp.'s Web site in a three-year agreement that also includes forming an Internet service.