The Undergraduate Council yesterday announced a change in the rate schedule used by the Harvard Student Telephone office.

Council spokesperson Victor Chiu '95 hailed the new rate schedule as "a welcome change."

The single biggest change in the rate schedule will be the elimination of the line transfer fee. Formerly, if the designated ownership of a telephone line changed, the new owner was charged a $24 fee. Under the new plan, a call of notification is all that is necessary to change line ownership.

Additionally, the fees for changing local service plans and adding or eliminating feature options have been reduced.

The cost of changing local service has been reduced from $15 to $5, and that of modifying a feature option has gone from $10 to $5.

Also, graduate students who wish to add a second telephone line to rooms in Soldiers Field Park or Shaler Lane dormitories will now be charged $27.50.

The new rates were suggested by the council during a meeting in October between the student telephone office and the council's Residential and Service Committees. David L. Hanselman '94, Residential Committee co-chair, said that the manager of student telephone services has been "very cooperative and receptive to our suggestions."

Meeting between council members and thetelephone office last year were responsible for the new policy of automatically activating all common room phone jacks.

Hanselman hopes that continued negotiations will yield a further reduction of fees and the addition of new services.

Top priorities are the elimination of the $10 collect call charge and the installation of additional Centrex phones, he said.