AT&T wins "do not call" registry contract

AT&T Corp.'s government solutions unit won a $3.5 million Federal Trade Commission contract to develop and implement a national registry containing phone numbers of consumers who do not want to be called by telemarketers.

The initial $3.5 million award runs through September. The contract allows the FTC to extend the award for up to nine years more. Under terms of the contract, AT&T will provide software, applications and database development, and the integration of voice services into an Internet environment.

Beginning this summer, AT&T Government Solutions will make it possible for consumers to enter their phone numbers into the registry, either by phone or on a Web site. Telemarketers will be required to download the database of do-not-call numbers every quarter and discontinue telemarketing to those numbers.

As many as 60 million consumers may use the registry when it is made available later this year.

The registry's Web site will be hosted from the AT&T Government Solutions Internet data center in Ashburn, Va.

Headquartered in Bedminster, N.J., AT&T had revenue of $37.8 billion in fiscal 2002. The company employs almost 118,000 people worldwide.