AT&T Co is so embarrassed at the Martin Luther King Day massacre of its long-distance network that it is swallowing its pride and considering asking MCI Communications Corp and US Sprint for a mutual aid pact under which its two fiercest rivals would route AT&T’s calls if anything like the software glitch happened again – and vice-versa: such a deal is seen as particularly beneficial for the two smaller companies because – pace the fault this time – they could tell their customers that they had an AT&T guarantee of back-up; that seems to be their initial reaction too – yep, well talk, they are saying.
