SBC to Cut 5,000 Jobs in Q2

SAN ANTONIO – SBC Communications Inc. (SBC), the No. 2 U.S. local telephone company, said on Tuesday it will cut 5,000 jobs in the second quarter due to the weak economy and regulatory pressures.

SBC, the dominant local telephone company in the Midwestern and southwestern United States, said it will fire management and non-management employees not directly involved in serving customers. The cuts will be completed by the end of June.

San Antonio, Texas-based SBC has cut its work force by about 10,000 in the past two quarters. In April, the company has said it would probably eliminate 4,000 positions over the last three quarters of 2002.

SBC and other Baby Bells have been slammed as customers tightened spending or shifted to wireless telephones and electronic mail, which has reduced the number of telephone access lines in service.

The company has said it expects its full-year 2002 earnings to grow by 5 percent to 7 percent, but said it may "be challenging" to meet its goal of increasing revenues 1 percent to 3 percent.

The San Antonio, Texas-based company also cited regulatory pressures as one reason for the job cuts. It said its was "discouraged from investing in new infrastructure or new jobs" due to "burdensome" regulations.

The Baby Bells created by the 1984 break up of AT&T Corp. cannot offer long-distance service in their home markets until they open their local telephone business to competition.