SBC comments that have the potential to impact NN positively:
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December 14, 1998 -- The following statement was issued today by Stephen M. Carter, President of Strategic Markets at SBC Communications:
"Thank you, Commissioners. My name is Stephen M. Carter, and I am President of Strategic Markets at SBC Communications. I am responsible for taking the combined SBC-Ameritech into the nation's biggest 30 markets out of our region. Together with the 20 markets the two companies would already serve on a combined basis, the National Local strategy will make us a national competitor and establish our position as a global provider.
"I'd like to begin by acknowledging that the merger has or soon will meet two key tests. First, there is no question today that SBC is fully qualified with respect to the necessary financial, technical and managerial expertise and requisite character to obtain the Commission's approval of this transaction. In addition, the Department of Justice is conducting an extremely thorough review of this merger for any anti-competitive concerns, and we are confident that we will receive the Department's approval.
"That said, I would like to spend a few minutes explaining why we believe this merger is in the public interest and will be good for consumers nationwide, good for employees of both companies, good for our shareowners and good for America's place in the global telecommunications arena.
"This merger is our effort to shorten the distance to the future for our current customers and consumers in markets from coast to coast. This merger is about enhanced economic growth, improved customer service and increased competition around the corner and around the world.
"There are some who pace the perimeter of the status quo, nervously guarding the way things are. Change is their enemy. We believe the time for change has arrived, and with this merger we have put our resources behind our commitment to the future.
"Once this merger is complete, we will jumpstart national competition through our National Local strategy for business and residential customers like nothing else has since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. We will become a new telecommunications alternative for another 70 million people. In the process, we will bring new products and services to consumers in and out of region faster and more efficiently. And our entry in those markets will force a competitive response from incumbent phone companies, long distance giants and others.
"I can't overstate this point: We're not pursuing National Local in order to win regulatory approval for the merger. It's exactly the opposite. The merger with Ameritech is a means to achieving the goals of the National Local strategy. It's a decision that both companies made based on our mutual desire to take advantage of growth opportunities in a dynamic telecommunications marketplace.
"The SBC-Ameritech merger is all about growth. For example, we will need 8,000 employees to serve customers in these new markets, which is just one reason the Communications Workers of America support us.
"Others have speculated about what this merger will do. I'd rather talk about real results. In the 18 months since our merger with Pacific Telesis, the situation in California is much improved. Service and repair times are better; we are introducing new products and services, including the nation's biggest rollout of high-speed Internet access through DSL technology; our charitable contributions and community giving have more than doubled; and we have created more than twice the number of new jobs we anticipated. We fully expect the Ameritech merger will allow us to achieve similar results.
"We know this Commission wants to promote competition. So do we. Our merger is a product of competition -- competition for our most profitable customers requires us to become a national and global carrier, which will allow us to then compete for business and residential customers nationwide. If you have any doubts, just look at how much the competition is doing to stop this merger.
"The race is on among SBC, Ameritech, AT&T-TCI, MCI/WorldCom, Bell Atlantic-NYNEX-GTE and others to achieve the size, scale, customer base and employee talent to become a national provider. In the end, consumers will win. I hope you will give them the opportunity to choose -- and give us the privilege of competing for them. The future demands no less.''
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