AT&T Co reckons it has all the angles covered in its plunge into the credit card issuing business, but four of the largest US card issuers, Citicorp, Chase Manhattan Corp, BankAmerica Corp and MNC Financial Corp reckon they have got Ma Bell over a barrel on a least one count, if not two: they suggest that Universal Bank, which actually issues the card, and in which AT&T has a small stake, is effectively controlled by AT&T, violating the rule that bars industrial and commercial companies from owning banks; and they suggest that the 10% discount on long-distance calls to users of the card amounts to predatory pricing against other long-distance firms and represents a rate cut not sanctioned by the Federal Communications Commission and if AT&T argues that the discount is actually given by Universal Bank, then the bank is reselling long-distance service without having been sanctioned by the FCC.
