SBC Named One of America's Top Ten Companies for Minorities by Fortune Magazine.

Business Editors

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 2, 2001

SBC Leads Telecommunications Industry in Diversity Practices

for Third Consecutive Year; Named One of Top Five

Companies for Supplier Diversity

For the third year in a row, SBC Communications (NYSE:SBC) leads all telecommunications companies in FORTUNE Magazine's annual ranking of America's 50 Best Companies for Minorities. SBC finished 8th among all companies for its diversity initiatives.

"Diversity isn't about numbers. It's about understanding the needs of your customers, business partners and communities," said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of SBC Communications. "The best way to do that is to maintain a workforce that reflects the world we live in and then ensure that diversity is represented throughout the business."

In addition to its top ten ranking, SBC was cited as one of America's top five companies for supplier diversity, spending more than $2 billion with minority-owned businesses and helping fund scholarship funds that send minority entrepreneurs to business schools to sharpen their skills. FORTUNE's list of "Best Companies for Minorities" will appear in the magazine's July 9 issue.

To compile the ranking, FORTUNE and the Center for Responsibility in Business, formerly known as the Council on Economic Priorities (CEP), surveyed FORTUNE 1000 and the 200 largest privately held U.S. companies. Companies were judged on more than a dozen measures, including the scope of overall diversity; level of management accountability; number of minority graduates hired by companies; minority representation on the company's board of directors; recent hiring practices; percentage of dollars spent with outside minority- owned suppliers; and percentage of charitable contributions given to programs primarily benefiting minorities.

SBC has been recognized for setting a high standard in the industry. The company's workforce is 50 percent female and 36 percent people of color. Nineteen percent of the company's corporate officers are minorities. Earlier this month, SBC was awarded the Corporate Conscience Award for Diversity, a global award presented by the Center for Responsibility in Business. Within the past year, SBC has been named: one of the top 25 companies for executive women, Working Woman; the best company for Latinas, Latina Style; the top company for minority and women owned businesses, Working Woman; and one of the top companies for Hispanics, Hispanic Magazine.

SBC is joined in this year's ranking of "Best Companies for Minorities" by other leading global companies such as PepsiCo, American Express, UPS, Ford, and Procter & Gamble.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, SNET and Sterling Commerce - and world-class network, SBC and its affiliated companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, including local and long-distance voice, high-speed Internet access and data transport, voice and data network integration, software and process integration, Web site and application hosting, e-marketplace development, paging and messaging, as well as cable and satellite television, and directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 61.3 million access lines and is undertaking a national expansion program under SBC Telecom that will bring SBC service to new U.S. markets. SBC has a 60 percent equity interest in Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth, which serves more than 20 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 28 countries and has annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.

SOURCE: SBC Communications Inc.