TELCOMMUNICATIONS

Court Blocks Pac Bell Promotion: U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown issued an injunction in Oakland barring Pacific Bell from using long-distance data in its Pacific Bell Awards program. The program offers points redeemable for prizes based on phone use. AT&T; Corp., MCI Communications Corp. and Sprint Corp. sued Pacific Bell in May, alleging awards program violates their billing contracts, which bar Pacific Bell from using long-distance billing data for its own marketing efforts. “The court saw this program for what it is, an attempt by Pacific Bell to use its monopoly position to obtain confidential customer data,” said Michael Antieri, AT&T; president for Pacific states. Pacific Bell, a unit of San Francisco-based Pacific Telesis Group, denied the program violates any contracts.