Telephone Industry United States

A picketer injured in a confrontation with a non-striking worker who was trying to drive into a New York Telephone Co. parking lot died Tuesday, a day on which the Communications Workers of America and NYNEX announced that informal talks would resume today. Edward Horgan, 34, died of head and neck injuries at Westchester County Medical Center on the 10th day of the strike by 189,000 union employees against four "Baby Bell" companies in 20 states and the nation's capital.

SBC Communications Inc. on Monday won federal approval to offer long-distance phone service to consumers in Kansas and Oklahoma, becoming the first local phone company born from the 1984 breakup of AT&T Corp. to offer interstate service in multiple states. The Federal Communications Commission said the nation's No. 2 local phone company passed a 14-point checklist that requires the company's local networks to be open to competitors before it can sell long-distance.

A strike at the nation's No. 2 phone company, Bell Atlantic Corp., caused some minor delays in service Sunday as union and company negotiators met throughout the day to settle their dispute. About 73,000 Bell Atlantic operators, customer-service representatives and installers--more than half the company's work force--walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Sunday after management and leaders of the Communications Workers of America failed to reach a contract settlement.

The Federal Communications Commission formally rejected a controversial proposal Thursday that would have forced telephone users to dial area codes for every call they make. The five-member commission unanimously adopted a staff recommendation that such a step--though it might alleviate the shortage of available telephone numbers in the U.S.--is not needed at this time and would be disruptive to consumers. "As all of us know, area codes are a very emotional issue," said FCC Chairman William E.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to call long distance, you dialed the operator. Her name was Mildred. Your telephone was as heavy as a bowling ball. "I am on long distance," you said, and people hushed up, impressed. Your own phone number was something like TRemont 2-8795. Everyone remembers his first phone number, because it had a name and a personality. BUtterfield 8. There was romance to the telephone then. But in the late 1950s, Mildred lost her job.

LDDS Communications, an acquisitive and highly ambitious Jackson, Miss.-based phone company, took a giant step toward the telecommunications big leagues Monday when it agreed to buy long-distance carrier Wiltel Network Services for $2.5 billion in cash. LDDS, which is 20%-owned by billionaire John Kluge, agreed earlier this month to buy Culver City-based IDB Communications for about $705 million in stock.

About the only thing people living in Southwestern Bell's service area hate more than visiting the dentist, sitting in traffic or reporting for jury duty is getting a call at dinner from someone pitching a long-distance service. About half of 1,000 households surveyed by the company this spring said they would rather undertake the aforementioned unpleasant activities than hear from a telemarketer while they're eating. The survey was conducted in Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas.

Federal regulators on Tuesday approved new rules that potentially could save U.S. consumers and businesses billions of dollars by allowing U.S. and foreign telephone carriers to negotiate lower international calling rates. For Southern Californians, the new rules could eventually lead to substantial savings in calls to family and business associates in Canada, Latin America and Asia.

The Bush Administration said Tuesday that it favors allowing telephone companies into the cable-television business but opposes even modest re-regulation of the cable industry. In fact, Thomas J. Sugrue, deputy assistant secretary of commerce, said President Bush may veto legislation to regulate the industry, even if it includes a provision that would permit phone companies to enter the cable business.

The budget was set for Taco Bell Inc. to purchase video conferencing equipment when a corporate jet--carrying its president and five top executives--developed trouble with its landing gear. While the January episode ended with a safe landing, it underscored to Taco Bell executives the urgency of buying the equipment to reduce business travel.

Federal authorities are investigating the nation's largest long-distance company, AT&T Corp., for allegedly acquiring thousands of new customers from rivals by switching their phone service without their consent--a tactic known as "slamming." The probe was confirmed to The Times by a government source and a telephone industry executive.

Seeking to boost telephone competition, federal regulators Thursday approved rules granting phone carriers greater access to commercial and residential buildings. In a 4-1 vote, the Federal Communications Commission agreed to bar phone companies such as Pacific Bell parent SBC Communications Inc. from making exclusive deals with commercial building owners that restricted landlords from granting building access to other telecommunications companies.

Verizon Communications, the largest U.S. cellular phone provider, said it broke with the industry and agreed to support laws that would ban hand-held cell phone use while driving, a practice blamed for deadly accidents. The New York-based company's apparent change of heart came as a committee of Chicago aldermen postponed a vote on a ban.

Shares of Sprint Corp. fell to nearly a three-year low Wednesday after it warned of lower third-quarter profit amid stiff competition in the long-distance telephone market and fewer-than-expected subscribers in its wireless telephone unit. Shares of the wireless unit, Sprint PCS Group, plunged 19% to its lowest level in over a year after it said increased competition and its decision to cancel some unprofitable customers would hurt its third-quarter subscriber growth.

John Malone, the former cable mogul known as one of the media world's most astute investors, isn't looking too smart after suffering a paper loss of $1 billion since December in AT&T Corp.'s stock slide. And Malone isn't a good loser. The Denver-based billionaire, who became the telecommunications company's largest shareholder in the 1999 sale of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. to AT&T, has gone into overdrive to recover from the loss.

In the fight against telephone "slamming," regulators have long had trouble tracking down and punishing lesser-known phone companies that resell long-distance service carried by another firm. But a series of new anti-slamming regulations that take effect this fall may help close loopholes that for years have protected unscrupulous long-distance resellers. Slamming is the illegal practice of switching a customer's long-distance service without permission.

In recent months, American Telephone & Telegraph has tweaked its competitors with a series of ads showing rivals' foul-ups in long-distance services. One ad shows an annoyed man sitting at his desk throwing cards on the floor while waiting for an AT&T competitor to make a long-distance connection. In another, a caller trying to dial Philadelphia finds himself talking to someone in Fiji.

MCI Communications said Monday that it will no longer handle billing for 900-number telephone sex lines. MCI was the only one of the big three long-distance companies that still offered billing for the calls. The No. 2 carrier's decision could cut deeply into the sex-line business. Such services will have to rely on smaller carriers or handle their own billing for calls routed through major carriers. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it plans to publish a list of the U.S. telephone companies with the most consumer complaints in an attempt to shame them into making improvements. The FCC said it will analyze telephone customer service calls to the agency's complaint hotline during September and issue a report soon after detailing company names, statistics and standings.

If there was once a corner of the business world furthest from the telecommunications revolution, it could easily have been the niche that Calabasas-based Tekelec Inc. carved out for itself years ago. The company, founded in 1979, built its name designing equipment used to simulate an obscure piece of the telephone network known as Signaling System 7. "It was very low on the sexy scale," said Tim Savageaux, senior analyst with W.R. Hambrecht & Co. in San Francisco.