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■ nil 111 II The Pendulum Thursday, October 17, 1985 Volume XII, No. 7 Blood Drive '85 Blood donor Becky Rogers anxiously awaits her final minutes in this year’s blood drive as Red Cross worker Kathy Sebastian supervises a particularly busy session in Jordan Gym. Sigma Tau Delta holds inductions By Frank Isley News Editor Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society, held its an nual banquet and induction of new members in second floor McEwen last Thursday. The guest speaker after this year’s banquet was Dr. Louis Budd, a former head of the English department at Duke University and author of several books on Mark Twain. Those people inducted into Sigma Tau Delta this year were; Karen Burke, Ann Cralidis, Renee Evans, Sylvia Williamson, Beverly Way, Chris Janelle, Tad Helmstetler, Jane Kidwell, Katrina Snow, Bob Moser and Margaret O’Connell. Local phone bills to increase ‘substantially’ ly Betsy Dranttel pecial to The Pendulum B. Franklin Skinner, president f Southern Bell, told a Whitley luditorium audience last Tues- ay night that local phone bills in lorth Carolina will have to in- rease “substantially” as a direct Csult of the deregulation of the llecommunications industry. Skinner said that it costs the ompany “approximately $30” 3 provide local service but that kistomers “pay only about half hat amount” for the service. “Without the revenues we us- d to realize from long-distance irovided by AT&T, the price of Deal service will have to rise,” le said. Skinner, who spent the day on campus speaking to business classes, discussed the breakup of the AT&T monopoly and the subsequent deregulation of the telephone industry in his public lecture. On Jan. 1,1984, AT&T-once the largest monopoly corporation in the world—divested itself of its seven regional subsidiaries, in cluding Southern Bell, as part of an out-of-court settlement of an antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department. Southern Bell became part of a new regional holding company. Bell South, which began with “about $23 billion in assets,” Skinner said. Although deregulation was “exactly the right thing to do at the time,” Skinner said, he pointed out problems that have to be faced as a result. For one thing, he said. Southern Bell cannot provide long-distance service beyond 50 to 70 miles; after that point, the call must be relayed by AT&T. Southern Bell thus is not able to offset what Skinner called “ar tificially low” local rates with the subsidies from “artificially high” long-distance charges. “No business can survive if it supplies service at a price lower than the service costs,” he said. While saying that providing “universal service at affordable rates” has always been a goal of the telephone company, Skinner Cheerleaders Stuntmen give squad new twist p.4 conceded that if local-service rates go much higher “we may be pushing the cost out of the reach of those who probably need it most”—referring to the elderly, the poor and those on fixed incomes. He said that although some customers have begun to regret the deregulation of the telephone industry, it would be “impossi ble to return to the old days” when “Ma Bell” was the only telephone company around. “What we need to work on,” Skinner continued, is eventual “full deregulation,” which he predicted is still years away. In the meantime, AT&T is com peting with other long-distance services like MCI and GTE- Sprint; and in 1987 Southern Bell will have its first competitors for local telephone service. “Many of these competitors do not have the same regulations or tariffs that the government has placed on us,” Skinner said. “The competi tion should have to play by the same rules as we do.” Later, when questioned about future technologies and telecom munications service his company may be providing, Skinner said that “the elimination of most cables and wires” will be one noticeable change by the year 2000. “We will be turning to microwave and other forms of transmission,” he explained. mi's Football No. 1 ranked Elon beats Ferrum 21-8 p. 6
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Oct. 17, 1985, edition 1
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