SBC Communications: Named Top Telecommunications Company in Fortune Magazine’s Best Companies For Minorities Issue

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MILWAUKEE (June 15, 2004) –For the sixth consecutive year, SBC Communications Inc. [NYSE: SBC] has been named the top telecommunications company in FORTUNE magazine’s annual Top 50 “Best Companies for Minorities” list. The company ranked No.12 on the 2004 list overall.

To compile the ranking, FORTUNE surveyed the FORTUNE 1,000 and the 200 largest privately held U.S companies. The rankings are derived from a model that weights data-driven information such as the number of minorities in the workforce and on the board, the rate at which minority employees are hired (and fired), plus if and how managers are made accountable for hiring, promotion, and retention. In addition, a team of reporters then talked to employees to gain an additional perspective.

“We have worked very hard to create a business culture devoted to inclusion,” said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC chairman and chief executive officer. “Diversity is fundamental to many facets of our customer and employee relations, and it is integrated into our management strategy to ensure our business success.”

In addition to this honor, and underscoring the company’s commitment to diversity initiatives, SBC Communications was recently recognized as a best place to work in a number of other national publications, including: DiversityInc; LatinaStyle; HISPANIC Magazine; Savoy Professional and Essence Magazine. SBC Communications is consistently rated among America’s Top Corporations for Women’s Business Enterprises by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

The SBC family of companies focuses on three specific areas of diversity best practices – workforce diversity, supplier diversity and community giving. The company’s workforce is 47 percent female and 38 percent people of color. In 2003, 51 percent of SBC new hires were women and 46 percent were people of color.

SBC companies are recognized for 36 years of leadership in integrating minority-, women- and disabled-veteran-owned (M/WBE-DVBEs) businesses in their supply chain. In 2003, the company spent $1.4 billion with diverse vendors.

The SBC Foundation – the company’s philanthropic arm – has connected SBC communities for 20 years. Since 1984, the SBC family of companies and the SBC Foundation have contributed more than $1 billion to nonprofit organizations across the country. In 2003, BusinessWeek magazine’s Special Report on Corporate Philanthropy named SBC Communications among the largest corporate philanthropists in America. In 2003, the SBC Foundation awarded 46 percent of its direct giving grants to organizations that serve racial and ethnic clients. The foundation also supports several supplier diversity development programs around the country and provides more than $200,000 in support annually to diverse scholarship programs, including United Negro College Fund and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.

SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which serves more than 24 million wireless customers. SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines to more American consumers than any other provider and are among the nation’s leading providers of Internet services. SBC companies also now offer satellite TV service. Additional information about SBC and SBC products and services is available at www.sbc.com.

SBC is a registered trademark of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. © 2004 SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. All rights reserved. Cingular is a registered trademark of Cingular Wireless LLC. SBC logos are trademarks of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. © 2004 SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. All rights reserved.