A `Ringing' Success; Five Years After Launch, Caller ID Now Californians' 2nd Most Popular Telecommunications Feature.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2001

Five years ago, consumers finally got access to one of the most controversial products ever to hit the California marketplace. The new product, long available in most states across the country, had been the focus of an intense debate that lasted nearly six years. As a final condition of offering the product in California, $33 million was invested into a consumer education campaign specifically designed to teach consumers how to block the product.

The company was SBC Pacific Bell Telephone Company. The product was Caller ID. Despite its popularity in other states, the odds seemed stacked against Caller ID ever gaining a foothold in California markets.

But, fast-forward to five years later and Caller ID is now SBC Pacific Bell Telephone Company's second most popular custom calling feature, trailing only the most popular feature, Call Waiting. Today, over 28 percent of residential customers subscribe to Caller ID, the service that allows consumers to see who is phoning before answering the call. Separating strangers from suitors, telemarketers from teammates and the long-winded from loved ones, Caller ID has proved itself to be an effective, useful tool that consumers depend on to manage their phone calls.

"The great thing about Caller ID is that it allows me to know if I am answering a professional or personal call at home," said Dr. Heinz Brinks, M.D. of Monterey, California. "Even better it protects me from telemarketers' calls so it saves me the time and frustration of having to deal with them. The price is good too. Considering how valuable it is in my life, the price is minimal."

After initial hesitation, Caller ID growth skyrocketed as more and more consumers have discovered the benefits of the technology. In 1998, Caller ID reached the milestone of one million subscribers, a 500% increase from the previous year. Today, close to 3 million SBC Pacific Bell Telephone Company consumer customers subscribe to Caller ID.

Meanwhile, between 1996 and 2001, the subscriber rate of Complete Call Blocking has dropped by 50%. Complete Call Blocking prevents a caller's phone number from being seen, unless the caller presses *82 on their keypad to unblock for just that one call. As Caller ID has become more popular, consumers have realized the value of using Selective Call Blocking, which provides greater control and flexibility through blocking numbers one call at a time by pressing *67.

"We've really seen the popularity and use of Caller ID take off in California," said Frank Mona, Executive Director, Consumer Marketing, SBC Pacific Bell Telephone Company. "Once people have tried it, they love it as it gives them so much more control about which calls to answer and when."

Caller ID leads to other innovations

As Caller ID's popularity has soared in California, more consumers want to know who is calling before answering, and some even refuse to answer calls that are not identified on their Caller ID display.

"The challenge here is that some customers don't want to reveal their phone number under any circumstances," said Mona. "We now have a solution to this issue with a new product that lets callers just say their name, if they choose not to reveal their phone number."

The new product is Privacy Manager, which was designed to provide new choices for both callers and the people they are trying to reach. Over 300,000 Caller ID subscribers now have Privacy Manager.

Working in conjunction with Caller ID, Privacy Manager(SM) screens those calls with un-identified numbers. If the caller does not want to reveal their number but does want their call to ring through, Privacy Manager allows them to simply say their name. Privacy Manager then notifies the subscriber, who can decide whether to take the call, reject the call, send it to voice mail, or in the case of telemarketers, send back a message indicating they do not accept telemarketing calls so please remove them from the call list. The subscriber can also provide one access code to friends and family allowing them to get through without saying their name or unblocking their number.

In addition to Privacy Manager, Caller ID led to introduction of Call Waiting ID which combines the benefits of consumers' top two favorite features: Call Waiting and Caller ID. Over 40% (1,000,000+) of our Caller ID customers have Call Waiting ID.

People who value Caller ID include:

-- Busy families who may choose to not answer the phone during dinnertime, bath
time, family time or private time.

-- Parents who want peace-of-mind when they're not home, knowing their children
can choose to answer calls only from people they know.

-- Safety-minded individuals who want to determine the phone number from which
a call was placed.

-- Small business and home office workers who want to customize their greetings
for personal and private calls during business hours, prioritize calls,
conserve time spent talking on the phone and screen their calls when working
late at night.

-- Virtually anyone who uses an answering service or device or a house-mate to
screen telephone calls, who does not want to pick up the phone but wants to
keep track of all incoming calls, or who just doesn't reach the phone in time
to take the call.

Caller ID costs $6.17 per month plus a one-time $4.75 installation fee. Privacy Manager(SM) costs $4.00 plus a one-time $4.75 installation fee. Subscribers to a SBC Pacific Bell Telephone Company Package may receive a discount on either product.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is one of the world's leading data, voice and Internet services providers. Through its world-class network and its subsidiaries' trusted brands -- SBC Southwestern Bell, SBC Ameritech, SBC Pacific Bell, SBC Nevada Bell, SBC SNET and Sterling Commerce -- SBC companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, as well as directory advertising and publishing. A Fortune 15 company, America's leading provider of DSL high-speed Internet service, and one of the nation's leading Internet Service Providers, SBC companies currently serve more than 60 million access lines nationwide. In addition, SBC owns 60 percent of America's second largest wireless company -- Cingular Wireless -- which serves more than 21 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 28 countries.