Connecticut OKs SBC Phone Merger

SBC Communications Inc.’s proposed $4-billion purchase of Connecticut’s local phone company won approval from state regulators on condition that SBC maintain staffing levels in the state. Southern New England Telephone employs about 9,000 people. Regulators rejected calls by the state’s attorney general to make the merger contingent upon rate reductions. The stock-swap deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission. The transaction would give San Antonio-based SBC, the dominant local carrier in the Southwest and on the West Coast, a foothold in a market now dominated by Bell Atlantic Corp. of Philadelphia, whose local phone territory stretches from Maine to Virginia but does not include Connecticut. Meanwhile, a strike by about 6,300 operators, technicians and customer service representatives against Southern New England Telephone continued. The employees walked out Aug. 23 after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on wages and health benefits.