Pacific Telesis Group’s Net Rises 13.6% in 1st Quarter

Pacific Telesis Group said that net income for the first quarter of 1985 increased 13.6% to $223.5 million, while revenue rose 10.4% to $2.05 billion. Net income for the same period last year was $196.8 million on revenue of $1.86 billion.

Chairman Donald E. Guinn credited “our long-term expense-control programs” for the improved earnings, noting that employment totaled 76,017, a 5.8% drop from a year earlier.

“While we are pleased with our first-quarter growth in earnings,” Guinn said, “our revenues in 1985 will not increase as much as we had hoped.”

Last month, the Public Utilities Commission ordered Pacific Bell, the San Francisco-based holding company’s principal subsidiary, to reduce rates by $18.2 million a year. Pacific had sought to increase revenue by $515.8 million. But, Guinn said, the commission had earlier authorized the local telephone company to increase charges for certain private-line services by about $14.4 million, trimming the net revenue decrease to $3.8 million.

The outlook for revenue growth hinges on a pending ruling by the PUC on a 1986 rate increase for Pacific Bell of $935 million, he added.

Besides Pacific Bell, Pacific Telesis is parent to half a dozen unregulated subsidiaries that sell telecommunications equipment and services, develop and manage real estate and print directories. But Pacific Bell is the only one of these new companies now contributing to the parent company’s net income.