SBC Communications Receives “2004 Diversity Award” from World’s Largest
Language Services Provider
Business Wire
Feb 16, 2005
Language Line Services recognizes SBC companies for outstanding
corporate leadership in serving customers of all languages and cultures
SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) has been honored for the company’s
commitment to serving consumers in more than 150 languages. The “2004
Diversity Award” was presented to SBC Communications by Language
Line Services(a), the world’s largest provider of over-the-phone
interpretation.
The award recognizes the company for providing Interpreter service(a)
free of charge in more than 150 languages, and for reaching out
to California’s ethnic communities through creative outdoor media,
direct-mail, ethnic festivals and outreach programs, and advertising
in select ethnic periodicals and newspapers.
“It’s an honor to win this award because the SBC family of companies is
committed to understanding and serving the unique needs of our diverse
California customer base,” said Jody Garcia, SBC Vice President of
Diverse Markets Group. “Not only is it the right thing to do, but
providing telecommunications and entertainment services to consumers
in their own language is a sound business strategy for the company.”
Garcia points out that SBC representatives are fielding calls from
consumers in more than 100 languages. The top 10 languages for the
number of incoming calls are Russian, Armenian, Farsi, Punjabi,
Portuguese, Hmong, Arabic, French, Thai and Cambodian.
Language Line Services builds on the SBC tradition of providing
excellent customer service. In the 1980s, the SBC family of companies
began providing customer service in Spanish to meet the needs of the
growing Latino population. SBC California later expanded in-language
customer service support to include call centers in six additional
languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Japanese and
Korean.
With Language Line Services, customers call in the language of their
choice to inquire about their bill, set-up phone service, change or
add services such as SBC Long Distance or SBC Yahoo! DSL, or have
other questions answered. The service is free to customers.
“The SBC family of companies has distinguished itself as a true
corporate citizen,” said Louis Provenzano, senior vice president
of sales for Language Line Services. “It is a model for all other
organizations that aspire to understand the cultures of their
customers and to communicate in the languages their customers prefer –
their own.”
SBC California customers can access SBC Language Lines customer
service at no charge by dialing 1-800-203-8600.
(a) Interpreter services are provided by SBC California Customer
service through Language LineServices, Inc., a company that specializes
in translations and language interpretation.
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 49.1 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
SBC is a registered trademark of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (C)
2004 SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. All rights reserved. Cingular
is a registered trademark of Cingular Wireless LLC. SBC logos are
trademarks of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (C) 2004 SBC Knowledge
Ventures, L.P. All rights reserved.SBC Carey Brock, 415-318-4240