Short Take: SBC pays $6.1 million to Treasury for poor service

SBC Communications will pay the U.S. Treasury $6.1 million for missing service goals it promised the Federal Communications Commission when acquiring Ameritech, the largest penalty ever paid by a Bell for poor service. The FCC said competitors had the hardest time working with SBC in the former Ameritech states of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana. The FCC has more than $29 million in enforcement actions against phone companies this year, it said.