Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2003

Last Tuesday, the SBC (NYSE:SBC) telecommunications network processed close to 41.3 million phone calls in a span of just two hours by the company's California and Northern Nevada customers - many of whom were participating in the semi-finals voting for Fox's hit reality TV show, American Idol. On a typical weekday evening, about 25.3 million calls are placed in those same two hours - from 9 to 11 p.m. The bottom line: SBC customers in California and Northern Nevada placed an additional 16 million calls during the voting period for American Idol.

Nationally, SBC telecommunications network processed close to 213 million phone calls during last Tuesday's two-hour span, compared to just over 160 million calls on a typical weekday evening.

"Last week's incredibly high voting volume gave us a good indication of what to expect this coming week," said Chuck Smith, president and CEO of SBC West. Company network monitoring specialists have noticed the numbers of voting phone calls increasing each week as the field of American Idol performers was narrowed. Anticipating that millions of additional calls will be made by American Idol fans calling to make their final vote of the season and discuss the vote with friends, the company has made sure that it is well prepared to deal with the volume.

"We built our network to be strong enough to survive an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster, but it is also flexible enough to handle huge surges in calls due to a radio call-in contest, rock concert ticket sale or American Idol voting," said Smith.

While the company's network is designed to handle heavy call volumes, the initial surge when millions of SBC customers pick up their telephones simultaneously as the voting lines open this Tuesday, May 20th could cause some callers to experience a "fast busy" signal, as the network provides far more than the usual number of customers with a dial tone to place their calls. Smith explains: "If callers hear a fast busy signal on Tuesday night, we encourage them to hang up and try their call again in a little while. Our network experts have advised that if callers can wait approximately 30 minutes after the show ends, they will most likely get through on the first try."

Smith indicated that, for some parts of their service area, SBC takes special precautions to protect the network - causing the fast busy signal at random as the very robust network begins to reach capacity for any of its thousands of telecommunications facilities.

"American Idol fans should know that our technicians are constantly monitoring the status of our network and are standing by, ready to re-route traffic if necessary. We encourage all of our customers to participate and cast a vote for Ruben or Clay."

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is one of the world's leading data, voice and Internet services providers. Through its world-class networks, SBC companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, as well as directory advertising and publishing. A Fortune 30 company, SBC is America's leading provider of high-speed DSL Internet Access services and one of the nation's leading Internet Service Providers. SBC companies currently serve 57 million access lines nationwide. In addition, SBC companies own 60 percent of America's second-largest wireless company, Cingular Wireless, which serves 22 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC companies have telecommunications investments in 27 countries.

SOURCE: SBC Communications Inc.