AMERICAN TELEPHONES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18593, 2 January 1935, Page 5

AMERICAN TELEPHONES

KATES INQUIRY STARTS

FIRM’S £1,000,000,000 ASSETS

NEW YORK, Nov. 19. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company' 1 s stock, of which there aVe a large number of British holders, sank to a new low price for 1934 to-day, selling below 105. The liquidation was caused by an overnight ahnouncementl that the Federal Communications Commission had ordered air investigation ofi (lie company. The last accounts of the company showed total assets of approximately £1,000,000,000, making it one of the world’s wealthiest corporations. The investigation, which will take more than a year to complete, will examine the whole structure of the company, and will pay special attention to the rates now paid by telephone users and the details of the company’s capitalisation. Present .rates for New York City are 17s 6d a month as the minimum charge for 66 calls, with approximately 2d for each extra call. The revenue obtained by the telephone companies can Be judged from the fact that in New York City • alone there are approximately 1,500,(XX) telephones, while in the whole of the United States there are 18,000.000. The average number of calls made daily in Amel'ica is 72,500,000.