Acsi

An article yesterday about American Communications Services Inc. incorrectly reported the company's stock price. ACSI shares closed at $7 Monday.The Sun regrets the error.For a company with aspirations of making a splash in the telecommunications business, American Communications Services Inc. didn't make much noise when it moved to Maryland this spring from suburban Chicago.There were no parades or press conferences with the governor, no million-dollar incentive packages or tax breaks. The publicly traded company just quietly buckled down to the job of raiding some of the nation's most entrenched monopolies -- the regional Bell companies.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore and Washington may not be a long distance apart on the map, but placing a phone call between the two cities has always required paying long-distance fees.A Maryland telecommunications company announced yesterday that it is planning to change that, at least for businesses.Officials of American Communications Services Inc. said at a news conference that they are filing with the Maryland Public Service Commission for permission to offer "Corridor Calling," a new service that would enable customers to place calls anywhere in the Baltimore-Washington region at a local rate of 8.5 cents per call, with no limit on the duration of the call.

American Communications Services Inc., an Annapolis Junction-based telecommunications company, said yesterday that last year it more than tripled the number of cities it serves with competitive telephone networks.ACSI, which moved to Maryland from suburban Chicago last year, said it had nine metropolitan networks up and running at the end of 1995, compared with two at the end of 1994. The number under construction increased from three to eight.The company is primarily a "competitive access provider," or CAP, meaning that it offers business customers a connection to long-distance providers for less than the cost of going through their local telephone companies.

American Communications Services Inc. laid off 32 workers this week, as the Annapolis Junction-based telephone company continued a restructuring that claimed the job of its chief executive officer last winter.ACSI said the fired workers, part of a staff of 550, were engineering, right-of-way acquisition, and network construction experts whose jobs were naturally running out because ACSI is almost done building its 50-city network to provide local phone service and data communications services aimed at businesses.

American Communications Services Inc. said it boosted revenue dramatically in the last months of 1996 but continued to lose millions of dollars as it builds a series of local telephone networks to compete with the Baby Bells.The Annapolis Junction-based company said it lost $34.9 million during the last six months of 1996, well above its $8.9 million loss for the same period of 1995. The main reason in both years was heavy capital spending: The company poured $64.5 million into capital projects during the second half of 1996.

American Communications Services Inc. laid off 32 workers this week, as the Annapolis Junction-based telephone company continued a restructuring that claimed the job of its chief executive officer last winter.ACSI said the fired workers, part of a staff of 550, were engineering, right-of-way acquisition, and network construction experts whose jobs were naturally running out because ACSI is almost done building its 50-city network to provide local phone service and data communications services aimed at businesses.

A tiny Annapolis Junction-based phone company got a powerful boost from MCI Communications Corp. yesterday, as the long-distance giant tapped American Communications Services Inc. to handle parts of both its long-distance service and its emerging local phone service business.ACSI stock rose $1.625 to $11.125 on the news, though neither side would say how much revenue the deal will bring ACSI during its five-year term. ACSI is one of a breed of smaller phone companies that have sprung up to challenge the Baby Bells for control of the $100 billion local phone industry, especially the lucrative business markets.

An article yesterday about American Communications Services Inc. incorrectly reported the company's stock price. ACSI shares closed at $7 Monday.The Sun regrets the error.

American Communications Services Inc., a fiber-optic network company that moved to Maryland two months ago, said yesterday that it has signed an agreement with MCI Communications Inc. under which it will provide a low-cost connection to MCI customers in six metropolitan markets.Under the deal, ACSI will provide networks that will let MCI bypass the regional Bell operating companies in the six downtown areas, which the companies declined to identify, except to say that they were in the South.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore and Washington may not be a long distance apart on the map, but placing a phone call between the two cities has always required paying long-distance fees.A Maryland telecommunications company announced yesterday that it is planning to change that, at least for businesses.Officials of American Communications Services Inc. said at a news conference that they are filing with the Maryland Public Service Commission for permission to offer "Corridor Calling," a new service that would enable customers to place calls anywhere in the Baltimore-Washington region at a local rate of 8.5 cents per call, with no limit on the duration of the call.

American Communications Services Inc. said it boosted revenue dramatically in the last months of 1996 but continued to lose millions of dollars as it builds a series of local telephone networks to compete with the Baby Bells.The Annapolis Junction-based company said it lost $34.9 million during the last six months of 1996, well above its $8.9 million loss for the same period of 1995. The main reason in both years was heavy capital spending: The company poured $64.5 million into capital projects during the second half of 1996.

A tiny Annapolis Junction-based phone company got a powerful boost from MCI Communications Corp. yesterday, as the long-distance giant tapped American Communications Services Inc. to handle parts of both its long-distance service and its emerging local phone service business.ACSI stock rose $1.625 to $11.125 on the news, though neither side would say how much revenue the deal will bring ACSI during its five-year term. ACSI is one of a breed of smaller phone companies that have sprung up to challenge the Baby Bells for control of the $100 billion local phone industry, especially the lucrative business markets.

Bell Atlantic Corp. announced a deal that will let it connect corporate customers' far-flung computer networks without violating laws that bar it from handling most long-distance phone calls, by enlisting a small Anne Arundel County company to handle the work Bell Atlantic legally cannot.Federal law bars Bell Atlantic and other local phone companies from handling long-distance calls in areas where they have a monopoly on local phone service, and the rules apply to calls carrying data as well as voices.

American Communications Services Inc., a small Maryland company that builds and operates telephone networks in Sun Belt markets, has seen its stock jump 43 percent in the six trading days since Congress passed a landmark telecommunications bill.Stock in the company, based in Annapolis Junction, closed yesterday at $8.25. As recently as Feb. 1, the day Congress passed the rewrite of the nation's telecommunications law, ACSI shares traded at $5.75.Richard A. Kozak, the company's president and chief executive, said passage of the bill has helped to stimulate interest in competitive access providers such as ACSI.

American Communications Services Inc., an Annapolis Junction-based telecommunications company, said yesterday that last year it more than tripled the number of cities it serves with competitive telephone networks.ACSI, which moved to Maryland from suburban Chicago last year, said it had nine metropolitan networks up and running at the end of 1995, compared with two at the end of 1994. The number under construction increased from three to eight.The company is primarily a "competitive access provider," or CAP, meaning that it offers business customers a connection to long-distance providers for less than the cost of going through their local telephone companies.

An article yesterday about American Communications Services Inc. incorrectly reported the company's stock price. ACSI shares closed at $7 Monday.The Sun regrets the error.

American Communications Services Inc., a small Maryland company that builds and operates telephone networks in Sun Belt markets, has seen its stock jump 43 percent in the six trading days since Congress passed a landmark telecommunications bill.Stock in the company, based in Annapolis Junction, closed yesterday at $8.25. As recently as Feb. 1, the day Congress passed the rewrite of the nation's telecommunications law, ACSI shares traded at $5.75.Richard A. Kozak, the company's president and chief executive, said passage of the bill has helped to stimulate interest in competitive access providers such as ACSI.

Bell Atlantic Corp. announced a deal that will let it connect corporate customers' far-flung computer networks without violating laws that bar it from handling most long-distance phone calls, by enlisting a small Anne Arundel County company to handle the work Bell Atlantic legally cannot.Federal law bars Bell Atlantic and other local phone companies from handling long-distance calls in areas where they have a monopoly on local phone service, and the rules apply to calls carrying data as well as voices.

An article yesterday about American Communications Services Inc. incorrectly reported the company's stock price. ACSI shares closed at $7 Monday.The Sun regrets the error.For a company with aspirations of making a splash in the telecommunications business, American Communications Services Inc. didn't make much noise when it moved to Maryland this spring from suburban Chicago.There were no parades or press conferences with the governor, no million-dollar incentive packages or tax breaks. The publicly traded company just quietly buckled down to the job of raiding some of the nation's most entrenched monopolies -- the regional Bell companies.

American Communications Services Inc., a fiber-optic network company that moved to Maryland two months ago, said yesterday that it has signed an agreement with MCI Communications Inc. under which it will provide a low-cost connection to MCI customers in six metropolitan markets.Under the deal, ACSI will provide networks that will let MCI bypass the regional Bell operating companies in the six downtown areas, which the companies declined to identify, except to say that they were in the South.