SBC Communications Chooses Scientific-Atlanta as IP Video Equipment Supplier for Project Lightspeed.

SAN ANTONIO -- $195 million, multi-year contract to design and build IP video network

E[acute accent]SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) today announced it has awarded a $195 million, multi-year contract to Scientific-Atlanta (NYSE:SFA) to provide IP-based video equipment for Project Lightspeed, the SBC initiative to expand its fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to deliver IP-based TV, voice and broadband services. E[acute accent]Scientific-Atlanta will supply IP video equipment for an IP video operations center (VOC), two national IP video super hub offices (SHO) and 41 IP video hub offices (VHO). SBC companies will use the facilities and equipment to deliver IP-based video entertainment services to customers within the Project Lightspeed footprint. Scientific-Atlanta will provide encoders, satellite dishes, video routers, and professional services as part of the contract. Scientific-Atlanta will also provide professional services related to the initial design and builds of the VOC, SHOs and VHOs. E[acute accent]"This contract award is another important step in building a new, efficient, IP-based video network and we're very pleased to work with Scientific-Atlanta," said Lea Ann Champion, senior executive vice president, SBC IP Operations and Services. "Our IP-based video services will allow us to offer unique programming, interactivity and functionality to enhance the entertainment experience." E[acute accent]The VOC is a "command center" that will monitor the availability and quality of all of the content traveling through SBC's network. The SHOs receive, process, and encode video and TV programming from satellite feeds into IP packets. This content is then sent to the VHOs (typically one per major metropolitan area), via SBC's national IP-based network. E[acute accent]In the VHOs are servers that have the electronic intelligence necessary to deliver IP video-on-demand, over-the-air TV programming, interactive applications, and more. The VHOs will also acquire and encode local video content. E[acute accent]Instead of using a traditional broadcast video system, in which all content is continuously sent to every customer's home, SBC companies will use a switched IP video distribution system. In the switched IP video network, only the content the customer requests is sent, freeing up bandwidth to be used for other applications. E[acute accent]In October 2004, SBC announced a five-year, approximately $1.7 billion primary supplier agreement with Alcatel to provide network equipment and video system integration services for Project Lightspeed. Alcatel's network equipment includes core network access, aggregation and switching equipment platforms that will provide the Internet Protocol, packet-based network technologies that connect the customers to the video hub offices. Additionally, Alcatel will work with SBC - and now Scientific-Atlanta - to ensure seamless video systems integration. E[acute accent]In November 2004, SBC announced a $400 million, 10-year agreement with Microsoft Corp. to provide next-generation television services using the new Microsoft(R) TV Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform. E[acute accent]The SBC Project Lightspeed is a $4 billion capital initiative to deploy fiber-to-the-neighborhood and fiber-to-the-premises technologies to 18 million households across 13 states by the end of 2007. Through Project Lightspeed, SBC companies plan to deliver IP-based video, voice, and high-speed Internet access services, providing a communications and entertainment experience not previously realized in the mass market. The company plans to offer the first set of products under the U-verse(sm) brand in late 2005 or early 2006.

E[acute accent]SBC Communications Inc. 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 50 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.