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Saturday, June 24, 2000
AAFES hands AT&T sole contract for telephone, Internet
services
By Wayne Specht
Stars and Stripes
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service's $700 million recently signed
contract with AT&T will cover a broad range of communication services
on Army posts and Air Force bases worldwide.
The new contract covers residential long distance phone services. Where
available, the deal will also include local service, pay phones and sales
of pre-paid calling cards. AT&T officials said expansion into the Internet
arena is likely.
The seven-year contract guarantees the telecommunications giant a virtual
monopoly for communication services at overseas and stateside bases, having
a potential customer base of 7.5 million servicemembers and their families.
In 1995, AT&T was awarded a 10-year contract to provide communications
services to the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard by the Navy Exchange
Service Command.
AT&T also will provide international telephone services for Army
and Air Force troops stationed in Kosovo and Bosnia, AAFES officials said
from their Dallas headquarters.
The contract gives AT&T "first rights" for new services,
including expanded Internet access.
"That means whenever AAFES decides to add new services, we'll have
the exclusive rights to negotiate to add them to the existing agreement
before AAFES puts those services out to bid," Janis Burenga, an AT&T
spokesperson at the company's New Jersey headquarters said in an e-mail
interview Thursday.
In partnership with AAFES, AT&T will market new products and services
online and through other new media channels, as well as through base and
post exchange exposure.
"AAFES may (someday) seek a provider of cable services at a later
date since AT&T and TCI cable service already serves about 20 percent
of Air Force bases covered under the contract," she said.
A number of bases have expressed an interest in having greater Internet
access, Burenga said.
Military On-Line communications centers, formerly known as Surf Shops,
have been operated under contract to AAFES by JENS, a Japanese telecommunications
firm that formerly used the AT&T logo in its shops.
"AT&T (recently) pulled out of that partnership after they made
a decision to get out of the overseas market," said George Bass, general
manager for AAFES at Misawa. "JENS will not be affected by this new
contract; there will be no impact on service provided by Military On-Line
at this time."
Also under the contract, AT&T has been granted exclusive rights to
operate pay telephones on military bases.
AAFES officials in Dallas said a percentage of revenue raised through
the AT&T contract will be returned to Morale, Welfare and Recreation
programs on bases and posts worldwide.
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