AT&T WorldNet Spurs Online Credit Use Bridgewater, NJ, 6 February 1996 -- In a teleconference today, officials of AT&T's WorldNet and Universal Card services announced a program aimed at allowing users to "feel safe" in making online transactions by waiving the standard $50 deductible fee on the use of credit cards for "fraudulent" purposes. The new program, to begin within eight weeks, will apply to all dial-up customers of both WorldNet and Universal Card Services, as well as to corporate users of WorldNet's LAN (local area network) Service who use their Universal Cards upon registering for WorldNet, said Tom Evslin, VP of AT&T Gateway Services, speaking during the teleconference. Some $200 billion in sales were conducted over AT&T's 800 numbers last year, in comparison to only $500 million in sales over the Internet, Evslin pointed out. "Secure credit card" technology is an important ingredient in spurring more electronic commerce, the VP acknowledged, noting that AT&T is one of the partners in the new SET (Secure Electronic Transactions) alliance unveiled by Mastercard and Visa last week. But based on the results of studies conducted by AT&T among consumers, it is just as important that consumers "feel safe" in doing business online as that they "be safe," Evslin told the reporters and analysts. "What's important to consumers is that AT&T put its money where its mouth is, rather than ask consumers to take the risk," the VP asserted. AT&T will launch the new "deductible fee waiver" in conjunction with the availability of dial-up access to WorldNet, a new Internet "content aggregation" service now in beta, by the end of this quarter, according to Evslin. AT&T rolled out the WorldNet LAN Connectivity Service together with BBN Planet last fall. AT&T plans to be "aggressive" in promoting WorldNet in the US and overseas, though mechanisms that will include cross-marketing programs with AT&T Universal Card Service as well as with third-party partners such as Netscape, Verity, McKinley, and as of last week, Broderbund, he told the press. AT&T Universal Card now has more US card holders than any other credit card, according to Evslin. The AT&T also told reporters that he expects other credit card companies will follow AT&T's lead in suspending the $50 deductible charge in online transactions. --