Whitacre at Helm of Drive for Empire

In his spare time, Edward E. Whitacre Jr. likes to get behind the wheel of his tractor, clear brush and carve new roads on his expansive ranch near San Antonio.

But Whitacre is reshaping a far larger landscape as chief executive of SBC Communications Inc., the San Antonio phone giant that swallowed up Pacific Telesis a year ago and on Monday moved to buy Ameritech Corp. of Chicago in a deal worth about $56 billion.

A tall Texan with a slow drawl and a quick mind, Whitacre, 56, has emerged as perhaps the most forceful executive in the industry, steamrolling rivals and tangling with regulators while assembling a telecommunications empire that could soon stretch from Connecticut to California.

What happens next, however, may depend as much on finesse as force, as Whitacre faces the daunting prospect of persuading regulators that his latest deal--and indeed, his vision of a consolidated telecommunications industry--should be allowed.

Those who know him say Whitacre is up to the task and that he is far more complicated and subtle than his gunslinging reputation indicates.

“He is soft-spoken, personable and almost beguiling,” said Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and Whitacre’s longtime nemesis. “You listen to him and you want to agree with him. Of course, I never did.”

Hundt and others said Monday’s proposed deal reflects Whitacre’s conviction that bigger is better in the phone business and that the telecommunications industry will be ruled by behemoths that can spread costs and sell services over the largest possible network of customers.

Whitacre is also convinced that local phone companies are powerfully positioned because their close relationships with customers serve as footholds into almost every telecommunications service, from Internet access to long-distance calling.

“Ed really believes that access lines are the center of gravity for the communications universe,” said David Dorman, an executive with Pacific Bell when that company was acquired by SBC and now CEO of Internet software company PointCast. “He sees the industry evolving and he intends to shape the future rather than be shaped by it.”

Indeed, Whitacre has been ruthless in protecting SBC’s monopoly position in its local markets while howling that it has been unfairly restrained from raiding long-distance markets still dominated by AT&T; Corp. and others.

Just within the last 13 months, SBC has acquired Pacific Telesis, applied for federal permission to offer long-distance service in Oklahoma, sued to block parts of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and negotiated to merge with AT&T; in a deal that ultimately failed.

Associates say Whitacre’s aggressiveness reflects a deep knowledge of the industry and self-confidence attained over a 33-year career at SBC, the only company he has worked for since graduating from Texas Tech in 1964 with a degree in industrial engineering.

The lanky Whitacre is also aggressive by nature, whether he’s pursuing a deal, hunting, fishing or playing golf, said friend Larry Walker, publisher of the San Antonio Express-News.

“You can always see the competitive juices in him,” Walker said. “Even if you’re just shooting quail, he always wants to shoot more than you.”

Walker said Whitacre is least comfortable with the more public aspects of his role, especially the media attention. He is happiest “sitting on his porch and watching the turkeys cross the meadows,” Walker added.

But Whitacre is said to have a powerfully persuasive presence in private settings.

Hundt said most executives who visited him at the FCC came with an entourage of staffers, but Whitacre “would come in by himself--no handlers, no staff--and just be friendly.”

“I remember one time he came in and just said, ‘Why won’t you let me in long-distance?’ ” Hundt recalled. “He was so persuasive that if I was a bird, he would have charmed me out of the tree.”

Hundt, who left his FCC post in November, said that no matter the outcome of the Ameritech deal, he believes Whitacre will continue his shopping spree until the federal government forces him to stop.

“The government has to decide how large the biggest telephone company can be,” Hundt said, “because Ed Whitacre wants to run that company.”