AT&T to scale back phonebook deliveries

ATLANTA - Phone books will stop dropping on doorsteps in Georgia's larger communities... six of them in northeast Georgia.

Utility regulators at the state's Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to exempt telephone companies from a requirement that they distribute white pages in places with more than 50,000 residents. The request came from AT&T Georgia.

The decision takes effect 20 days after the revised rules are submitted to the secretary of state.

Telephone companies must still give customers a phone directory in markets with fewer than 50,000 residents or if a customer wants one.

The affected communities are:

Albany
Athens
Atlanta
Augusta-Harlem
Austell-Douglasville-Hiram-Mableton-
Powder Springs
Cherokee-Pickens Counties
Clayton-Fayette-Henry Counties
Columbus-Hamilton
Cumming-Forsyth-Roswell-Alpharetta
Gwinnett County
Henry County
Lake Oconee-Reynolds Plantation
Macon-Forsyth
Marietta
Savannah
Warner Robins
West Georgia