University Daily Kansan, September 25, 1980
Page 7
MCI offers lower long-distance rates
By STEVE BASKA Staff Reporter
A long-distance telephone service operated by the MCI Telecommunications Corporation, which advertises lower rates than telephone and telegraph Co., could be available in Lawrence next year.
The service now is operating in the Kansas City area and in Wichita and its suburbs. Topeka will be added to the MCI system within six months and Lawrence will be considered for addition after that, said Gary Tobin, director of marketing, advertising and public relations for the company, which is based in Washington, D.C.
"We've had a lot of requests from Lawrence," Tobin said. "Extension of the service (to Lawrence) will be studied beginning in April."
THE MCI SERVICE is extended only to towns that have enough long-distance calling for MCI to make a call. The coverage will be evaluated on that basis.
MCI advertises substantial
savings for its customers compared with the rates charged by Southwestern Bell for long-distance calls.
Nancy Smith, MCI sales representative in Kansas City, Mo.'s said lower rates were possible because MCI charged by the half-price rate for a minimum on each call, offered direct dealings and did not employ operators.
"Our rates are lower by 20 to 40 percent during the day and 40 to 60 percent at night," Smith said. "The system is used on any push button phone."
To complete long distance calls, Southwestern Bell uses AT&T long distance cables and MCI uses long distance Boat companies charge rates based on the distance. Calls over shorter distances cost less than longer distances. MCI bills to the closest half-minute. Bell bills to the closest minute on direct dialed calls, and on extended dialed calls after the first three minutes.
Comparing evening rates, a one minute call from Kansas City, Mo. to Columbus, Ohio, costs 34 cents on
the Bell system and 13 cents on the MCI system. A 13 minute call from Kansas City to Los Angeles costs $17.99 for the Bell rate, $1.79 at the MCI rate.
PAULI KNIGHT, manager of Southwestern Bell's Resident Service Center in Lawrence, said that Bell's business probably would not be hurt if MCI services come to Lawrence
"We offer the lowest rates possible," she said. "The percent increase in recent years has been very minimal for long distance calling, and we are committed to serve all the people."
Bell serves city and rural areas. It averages long distance charges so that city and rural customers pay an equal rate based on distance. MCI serves a high metropolitan areas with a high number of calls are made.
The MCI service is available to residences and businesses. Customers pay a monthly fee and a charge for each call. Residents can get a $1 a month service that allows evening, weekend and holiday
calling, or a $10 per month service that offers calling 24 hours a day.
MARLYN ESHELMAN, MCI sales supervisor in Kansas City, Mo., said that there was no charge for starting or stopping the service. He added that customers were billed for their time and that a system for 5 to 10 days on a trial basis.
MCI's only business is the long-distance service. It is available in 75 metropolitan areas and 2,000 cities in the United States. The company continues to add cities to its system and builds microwave towers about 30 miles apart to extend the service from one city to the next.
Tobin said that because Lawrence was close to Kansas City and Topahe, the existing tower paths were added to add the service to Lawrence.
MCI began operating in 1969. It uses local Bell systems for its customers to call out to MCI companies on some areas, uses AT&T cables, and MCI pays Bell $4 million annually for use of its systems.
Med Center to receive health sciences library
Plans to build a $5 million health sciences library at the College of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Kan., were announced Friday by the Kansas Board of Regents.
Designed by the Wichita architectural firm of Thomas, Harris, Ash and Mason, the two-story, redbrick building will contain all of the college's library books except the ones of college and education resources collections.
Those books will remain in the cramped facilities in Robinson Hall on the Kansas City, Kan., campus. Three floors of the hall are library space and other areas containing the University of Kansas Medical Center's surgical area for children.
"We've needed more space for the library for a long time," said Allen Wiechert, University director of facilities planning. "What really held us up was the funding for such a large project."
Most of the money for the project was appropriated by the 1979 Kansas Legislature, which stipulated that $1 million be covered by revenue bonds.
An additional $250,000 will come from private, anonymous sources.
The plan's approval Friday enabled architects to prepare construction drawings needed to offer the project for bids. Wiederhled said the bidding and sale of revenue bonds to finance part of the project would be completed next spring. The building will be ready for occupancy by early 1983.
The new library will be on University property on the northwest of campus. City campus
Wiechecht said the new library would be an "open concept." Using this concept, book stacks are mingled with study areas to allow students studying to be near the books. A similar concept was followed by the designers of the KU library and in the renovation of Watson Library on the Lawrence campus.
The health sciences library will have seating for more than 700 people in small group study areas, reading lounges and study carvers. The design provides for three additional floors if expansion becomes necessary.
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