TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

SBC Appeals New Rules: SBC Communications Inc. filed a legal challenge against new federal rules aimed at deregulating the $100-billion local phone market. The San Antonio-based phone company, which has announced plans to merge with Pacific Telesis, joins US West, GTE, Bell Atlantic and other local phone companies that have appealed the Federal Communications Commission guidelines, complaining that they don’t provide enough compensation for local carriers that must now lease portions of their network to new competitors. If the challenges succeed, they could delay the introduction of competition into the local telecommunications market--a major objective of the landmark telecommunications reform law enacted in February.