MCI, AT&T; Protest Planned Union of SBC, Pacific Telesis

MCI Communications Corp. and AT&T; Corp. protested SBC Communications Inc.’s planned $24-billion merger with Pacific Telesis Group in documents filed Thursday with California regulators.

The long-distance companies said the merger will be anti-competitive and is not in Californians’ best interests.

The California Public Utilities Commission must find that the merger won’t hurt competition, said Bill Harrelson, an attorney for MCI’s Western region. California’s local phone market was opened to competition in January.

“SBC has a reputation for not welcoming competition with open arms,” Harrelson said. He cited a recent law enacted in Texas requiring long-distance companies entering the local phone market there to build their own facilities rather than rent them from SBC.

SBC has “a vested interest in continuing the anti-competitive practices that they engage in in their own territory,” said Kathi Oram, a spokeswoman for New York-based AT&T.;

In a statement, San Antonio-based SBC said the merger will benefit California by creating 1,000 new jobs in the state and by establishing headquarters for the combined companies’ administration, long-distance, international and Internet operations.

California regulators will conduct hearings on the merger proposal later this summer. The merger also faces scrutiny by Texas regulators as well as the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SBC announced that the Justice Department, which is also reviewing the merger, asked for additional information on the pact on May 10.

Shares of SBC fell 12.5 cents to $48.875; San Francisco-based Pacific Telesis fell 25 cents to $33.125. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange.