SBC To File New Evidence In Texas Long Distance Bid

March/April Data Show Continued Improvement in Face of Higher Volumes

SBC Communications Inc. will submit new information supporting its pending filing for long distance relief in Texas to the Federal Communications Commission today, including April performance data showing even better results in serving wholesale customers in Texas than in prior months. Performance data for SBC's Southwestern Bell for March and April show significant improvement even as competitors' order volumes have been increasing.

Today's filing specifically outlines SBC's performance in the three remaining areas identified by the Department of Justice on May 12 and FCC Chairman William Kennard on April 3: delivery of lines to competitors through a process known as "hot cuts"; provisioning to competitors of lines capable of providing high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service; and processing of competitors' orders for local services.

"These newest results show that SBC not only continues to meet all requirements for approval of our long distance application, but that our performance keeps getting better—even as order volumes increase," said Priscilla Hill Ardoin, SBC Senior Vice President for Federal Regulatory Affairs. "There are only a few issues left on the table, and we think this latest data will put any concerns to rest."

Of the hundreds of issues addressed in the initial application SBC filed in January, only a few remained when the company re-filed its bid on April 5. In its most recent comments to the FCC, the Department of Justice noted that SBC's performance in providing interconnection trunking to competitors—one of the last remaining issues—was no longer a concern. The Department said that it would provide additional analysis to the FCC after reviewing SBC's April performance data for the final three issues.

Examples of the most recent performance results for these three issues include:

• DSL Loops: Southwestern Bell satisfied the Texas PUC's parity or benchmark standard in 13 out of 14 relevant categories in provisioning DSL loops. In fact, the only exception was missed due dates due to lack of facilities which, while currently beyond Southwestern Bell's control, should be largely eliminated when line sharing is implemented in late May or early June.
• "Hot Cuts": Hot cut results show significant improvement, with coordinated hot cuts being successfully completed in accordance with the Texas performance measurement 99 percent of the time.
• Operations Support Systems: Southwestern Bell's systems are handling commercial volumes of orders and are meeting all applicable parity and benchmark standards—while competitors' orders have increased by 20 percent.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas, which has reviewed SBC's application for more than two years, last month unanimously endorsed the company's long distance bid for a second time. In an evaluation submitted to the FCC on April 26, the PUC addressed, one-by-one, each of the issues identified by the Department of Justice and the FCC.

"The review by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Department of Justice, and the FCC, has been extremely rigorous, and we are pleased that they have allowed us to work with them to address every issue that has been raised" Hill Ardoin continued. "We think we have now cleared every hurdle."

In addition to the Texas cities of Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio, over 40 other individuals, companies, and organizations have filed comments with the FCC supporting SBC's application. Texas telecommunications companies such as Sage Telecom, Navigator Telecommunications, MaxCom and A-CBT System have also reported to the FCC on SBC's efforts to help them successfully integrate their systems with Southwestern Bell's.

"We are extremely grateful for the support of the many Texans who want to see increased choice in the long distance market," Hill Ardoin added. Local competition is already thriving in Texas, as noted in AT&T's own 1999 Annual Report, which singles out Texas as a state where AT&T is successfully winning customers, touting that AT&T "[s]igned up nearly 200,000 local customers" in New York and Texas last year.

Competition in Texas:

• Competitors are providing 1.8 million local phone lines in Texas.
• 268 companies have signed interconnection agreements with Southwestern Bell to provide service in Texas. At least 59 companies are providing facilities-based local service and at least 126 companies are offering local service through resale.
• More than 6,900 high-speed DSL lines have been provided by 23 data CLECs, most within the last six months, while the total number of DSL loops provisioned in Texas more than doubled during the first three months of 2000 alone.
• Competitors have 718 collocations in Southwestern Bell central offices with 1,401 collocations pending.
• Southwestern Bell has processed more than 3.9 million service orders for competitors in Texas since January 1, 1998.
• Competitors now serve more than a third of all business lines Texas' major metropolitan areas, including Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
• More than 58,000 unbundled loops have been provided to competitors.
• More than 243,000 unbundled loop/port (UNE) combos have been provided to competitors (73,000 between January and March alone.)

"The local market in Texas is fully open to competition. We look forward to bringing that same level of choice to the long distance market," Hill-Ardoin concluded.

The FCC has until July 5 to act on SBC's Texas long distance application.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Cellular One—and world-class network, SBC's subsidiaries provide local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 94.1 million voice grade equivalent lines, 11.7 million wireless customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 22 countries. With more than 208,000 employees, SBC is the 13th-largest employer in the U.S., with annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.