Clay or Ruben?!?; SBC Ohio Network Handles Millions of American Idol Calls During Last Night's...

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2003

American Idol fans across the country were lighting up the phone lines casting votes for their favorite singer...or chatting about the final round of competition with friends. Here are some facts about the SBC Ohio (NYSE:SBC) network's performance last night during the three hour voting period for the Fox hit reality show season finale:

-- The number of calls processed by our network during American

Idol voting last night was approximately 21.1 million - 11.2

million calls greater than a typical three-hour period of

weeknight calling, and a 112 percent increase.

-- Calls processed last night by the SBC Ohio network: 21.123

million. Three hours of voting on Tuesday, May 20th.

-- Calls processed on a typical weeknight by the SBC Ohio

network: 9.912 million. The same three hours on Monday, May

19th.

SBC's networks - in 13 states including Ohio - were built to be strong and flexible enough to withstand hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters. Those same attributes enable it to stay up and running during peak periods of calling, such as a radio call-in contest, rock concert ticket sale, or American Idol voting.

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.