UA officials may have been trying to increase the university's commission revenues from AT&T, its contracted long-distance carrier, by blocking access from campus telephones to Student Telecom Services, an STS representative said.

Debbie Powers, a customer service supervisor for STS, said her company began getting complaints in November from students who said they could not make calls from the University of Arizona campus.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat began investigating the problem two weeks ago, and after repeated requests for an explanation, the local number for STS again became accessible from campus yesterday evening.

Since November, it has been impossible to call the access number for STS from telephones in university offices and residence halls. Callers who tried from any university phone number received only a busy signal, while calls from off-campus prefixes went t hrough instantly.

Ruth Holthaus, senior business manager for the UA's Center for Computing and Information Technology, said the UA receives a 25 percent commission, after expenses, on all calls made from the residence halls through AT&T. She said those commissions are used to improve campus phone services.

Powers said she believes the calls were being blocked because of the commission.

"The university is getting a portion of the revenue," she said. "They want students to use that service rather than use a calling card."

"We have researched this through ourselves and our sales office," Powers said. "We were told by a campus contact that (the contact) feels the numbers had been blocked.

"We have looked into it with our technicians," she said. "We have questioned it and (the block) is the only thing we have found."

But when a representative from the UA Telecommunications customer service department was asked if the calls were being blocked, he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Walt Moody, staff engineer for CCIT, said AT&T "1+" service is provided to students living on campus because AT&T Corp. is the company contracted to provide the university's business long-distance service. He has repeatedly said the university is not conc erned with other companies' access numbers and the access numbers are not being blocked by the university.

Moody said he had received only one complaint that STS could not be reached from campus extensions, and last week said he would look into the situation. Later, Moody said he had tried and successfully called the access number from campus. However, repeate d attempts by the Wildcat to complete the call from various campus extensions did not go through.

Holthaus said yesterday she was told by employees in charge of the UA's switching equipment that the calls are not blocked. She said she would investigate the situation.

Moody then called the Wildcat yesterday evening and reported the access number was working. A call confirmed the number was reachable.

"We have been working on it and U.S. West (Communications) has been working on it," Moody said. "I can't (explain) why, but it's working now."

Despite Moody's denial that the university was blocking the calls, a business service representative at U.S. West said, "They (the university) have to have a block on it," stating that something in the university's switching system might be stopping the c alls. "They may just not want you to call," the representative said.

Moody said he questioned the reliability of U.S. West's information.

"Calling U.S. West is like calling the university - you have to be sure you're talking to someone who knows what they're talking about," Moody said.

However, Alvin Howell, a public utilities specialist with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, agreed with U.S. West, saying, "Somewhere there is equipment that is blocking the number."

Powers said there is nothing STS can do legally if the UA blocks the calls. Because STS has no contract with the UA, the university has the right to block any phone calls made through UA lines, she said.

However, federal law prohibits "800" and "950" access code numbers from being blocked, said Jon Poston, spokesman for the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state.

STS also provides service through an "800" access number which has always been accessible from the UA campus, but the rate to use that line is not as competitive - 33 cents per minute.

Powers said previously that the block has had a significant impact on STS's business and may force the company to stop providing service in Arizona.

"Primarily, (the service) is there for on-campus students to use through the local phone number at a discounted rate," Powers said. "There's really no sense in providing our service - the percentage using it off campus is small."

STS, which markets long-distance service at campuses nationwide, came to the UA campus at the beginning of the fall semester to sign up students for its service. STS says its rates save 36 percent over other residential carriers.

Powers did not have specific figures on the amount of business STS has lost or the number of UA students who use the service.

"The bottom line is it has affected all students (at the UA)," she said.

Mely Tynan, UA associate vice provost for information systems and technology, who oversees telecommunications, did not return repeated calls made to her office since Thursday.

Since STS's offices closed before the Wildcat learned the access number was again accessible, no one at STS could be reached for comment.