Orange County’s telecommunications sector added employees in the past year for the first time since the technology downturn.
Wireless units of big telecoms led the gains, though a bigger story was consolidation.
Overall, the 20 biggest telecommunications companies operating here increased staffs by 2% to 23,966 workers in the past 12 months, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
Last year, local telecoms were flat on the worker front following years of decline on the heels of network overbuilding in the late 1990s.
Eleven of the telecommunications companies either added employees or stayed flat compared to a year earlier. Four companies posted a decline in employment with the Business Journal making estimates for five others who declined to provide figures.
A growing economy and emerging technology pushed employment expansion, companies said.
But a little bit of growth wasn’t the only story this year. A rash of acquisitions hit the industry, changing its landscape once again.
Some of the biggest deals were in the wireless sector.
Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless LLC finalized its buy of Redmond, Wash.-based AT & T; Wireless Services Inc. late last year in a deal valued at around $41 billion.
And earlier this summer, Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint PCS Group completed its buy of Reston, Va.-based Nextel Communica-tions Inc. in a $35 billion deal. Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless is another big wireless company here, along with Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile USA.
Traditional wireline telecommunications companies saw big changes, too.
Verizon Communications Inc., the local telecommunications provider and parent company of Verizon Wireless, earlier this year won a bidding war with Denver-based Qwest Corp. to buy MCI Inc. of Ashburn, Va. The deal was worth more than $8 billion.
And San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. is working through the regulatory process to pick up AT & T;’s traditional wireline unit. SBC, like Verizon, were two of the companies to emerge from the breakup of AT & T; back in the 1980s.
In both cases, the “Baby Bells” gain big corporate clients and extend their national networks. These shakeups also have affected the lineup of telecommunications companies in OC.
No. 1 SBC Communications expanded its total OC workers numbers by 2% to 5,784 in the past year.
The company, which has a 60% stake in Cingular, grew with the AT & T; Wireless acquisition. That deal helped boost Cingular’s local workforce by 157%, or 784 people.
There were some job cuts for redundant positions, said Kelly King, vice president and general manager for Cingular in Southern California. King said the company is hiring for its stores and to upgrade its network.
The landline side of SBC saw an employment decline of 13%, or nearly 700 people,continuing a three-year trend of employee reductions for the company.
The pending buy of AT & T;’s wireline unit could add 85 workers to SBC’s count.
SBC has gained traction from its new digital subscriber line offering as the first national company to sell it at around $15 a month in some cases, said Debbie Barba, vice president and general manager for Orange and Riverside counties.
Verizon, which has a smaller foothold on local landlines in OC, was No. 2 on the list this year with an estimated 3,500 people, up 13%. Its wireless phone operations,the biggest piece of its OC employment base,saw a 19% increase in workers to 2,500.
Verizon Wireless’ pending buy of MCI, which is ranked No. 5 on the list, could add 400 local people to its fold.
Checking in at No. 3 on the list was Sprint Nextel Corp. Sprint picked up about 450 workers from its Nextel buy for an estimated 1,246 workers in OC.
Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC, which is part of Nextel, also joined Sprint in the deal. It boosted employment 62% to 112 workers.
At No. 4 on the list was Atlanta-based Cox Communications Inc.
The company’s local staff was flat at 750, but Dave Montierth, area vice president for Cox’s Business unit, said the sales growth was possible without adding people.
The uptick in the economy has helped, he said. And Cox has grabbed market share for its phone and Internet connection business.
The competitive local exchange carriers, which were spawned by deregulation, saw a better year for the most part.
A newer local player in the competitive local exchange field was No. 9 Mpower Communications Corp. of Rochester, N.Y., which saw 42% growth to 170 people.
No. 10 Reston, Va.-based XO Communica-tions Inc. reported a stable OC workforce at 150 people. XO, which offers voice and data services over high-speed fiber optic lines, shrunk by 25% last year.
VoIP Gainer
A big gainer was No. 20 Bakersfield-based Global CTI Group Inc., which has been operating in OC for two years.
Global CTI added 18 people, or 43%, to its local staff. The company said it benefited from growth in voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, technology, which lets users send phone calls over the Internet instead of phone networks. It also lets them track phone calls on their computers.
No. 13 Siemens Communications Group, which offers data networking and call center products, said its local employment fell 10% to 85.
AT & T; took the biggest hit on the list with an 89% drop in local employment on the Cingular buy of its wireless unit. AT & T; fell to No. 13 from No. 3 last year.
