SBC Touts More Jobs, Not Price Changes

Edward Whitacre Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC Communications, on Monday boasted that PacBell and its affiliates have added more than 4,000 new jobs in California since the April 1997 merger of San Antonio-based SBC and Pacific Telesis.

PacBell, California’s largest local phone company, will add several hundred service representatives and technicians in the coming months to meet rising customer service demands, said Whitacre, who spoke at a luncheon meeting of Town Hall Los Angeles.

Whitacre pointed out that the new figure is four times the number of jobs--1,000--SBC promised to create in California as a result of the merger. The company now employs nearly 54,000 workers in the state. He also highlighted an increase in charitable giving and said that customer service had improved.

Notably absent from Whitacre’s post-merger report card was any mention of prices. Since the merger, PacBell has proposed a string of price increases, including hefty hikes in directory assistance fees, wiring repairs and other services. PacBell’s only post-merger price decreases for residential customers have come through shifts enacted by state regulators.

As for the jobs, SBC’s critics point out that SBC inherited a recession-ravaged PacBell work force that was in dire need of bolstering. In addition, they say much of the growth has come in relatively new units--such as PacBell’s wireless subsidiary--which were already growing fast before the SBC purchase.