Standard&Poor's said today that the rating and outlook on diversified telephone company SBC Communications Inc. (AA-/Stable/A-1+) are not impacted by the company's recent announcement that it would be cutting 11,000 jobs through early 2003. The company has identified this action as largely prompted by uneconomic pricing of its services on a resale basis under regulatory-imposed unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) pricing discounts, which provide a disincentive for additional investment in the network. In some cases the required discount from retail pricing has been as much as 60%. Standard&Poor's has indicated that all the regional bell operating companies (RBOCs) face challenges in the next few years due to heightened competition prompted largely by the UNE-P mandate. SBC's
