How to Use This Book
The two primary sections of this book are devoted
first to the telecommunications industry as a whole and then to
the “Individual Data Listings” for THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
500. If time permits, you should begin your research
in the front chapters of this book. Also, you will find lengthy
indexes in Chapter 4 and in the back of the book.
THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY
Glossary: A short list of telecommunications
industry terms.
Chapter 1: Major Trends
Affecting the Telecommunications Industry. This chapter
presents an encapsulated view of the major trends that are creating
rapid changes in the telecom industry today.
Chapter 2: Telecommunications Industry
Statistics. This chapter presents in-depth statistics
including an industry overview.
Chapter 3: Important Telecommunications
Industry Contacts – Addresses, Telephone Numbers and World
Wide Web Sites. This chapter covers contacts for important
government agencies, telecom organizations and trade groups. Included
are numerous important World Wide Web sites.
THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 500
Chapter 4: The Telecommunications 500: Who
They Are and How They Were Chosen. The companies compared
in this book (the actual count is 514) were carefully selected
from the telecommunications industry, largely in the United States.
183 of the firms are based outside the U.S. For a complete description,
see THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 500 indexes in this
chapter.
Individual Data Listings
Look at one of the companies in THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
500’s Individual Data Listings. You’ll find
the following information fields:
Company Name:
The company profiles are in alphabetical order by company name.
If you don’t find the company you are seeking, it may be
a subsidiary or division of one of the firms covered in this book.
Try looking it up in the Index by Subsidiaries, Brand Names and
Selected Affiliations in the back of the book.
Ranks:
Industry Group Code: An NAIC code used to group
companies within like segments. (See Chapter 4 for a list of codes.)
Ranks Within This Company’s Industry Group:
Ranks, within this firm’s segment only, for annual sales
and annual profits, with 1 being the highest rank.
Business Activities:
A grid arranged into six major industry categories and several
sub-categories. A “Y” indicates that the firm operates
within the sub-category. A complete Index by Industry is included
in the beginning of Chapter 4.
Types of Business:
A listing of the types of business specialties conducted by the
firm.
Brands/Divisions/Affiliations:
Major brand names, operating divisions or subsidiaries of the
firm, as well as major corporate affiliations—such as another
firm that owns a significant portion of the company’s stock.
A complete Index by Subsidiaries, Brand Names and Selected Affiliations
is in the back of the book.
Contacts:
The names and titles up to 27 top officers of the company are
listed, including human resources contacts.
Address:
The firm’s full headquarters address, the headquarters telephone,
plus toll-free and fax numbers where available. Also provided
is the World Wide Web site address.
Financials
Annual Sales (2004 or the latest fiscal
year available to the editors, plus up to four previous years):
These are stated in thousands of dollars (add three zeros if you
want the full number). This figure represents consolidated worldwide
sales from all operations. 2004 figures may be estimates or may
be for only part of the year—partial year figures are appropriately
footnoted.
Annual Profits (2004 or the latest fiscal
year available to the editors, plus up to four previous years):
These are stated in thousands of dollars (add three zeros if you
want the full number). This figure represents consolidated, after-tax
net profit from all operations. 2004 figures may be estimates
or may be for only part of the year—partial year figures
are appropriately footnoted.
Stock Ticker: When available,
the unique stock market symbol used to identify this firm’s
common stock for trading and tracking purposes is indicated. Where
appropriate, this field may contain “private” or “subsidiary”
rather than a ticker symbol.
Total Number of Employees: The approximate total
number of employees, worldwide, as of the end of 2004 (or the
latest data available to the editors).
Apparent Salaries/Benefits: (The following descriptions
generally apply to U.S. employers only.) A “Y” in
appropriate fields indicates “Yes.” Due to wide variations
in the manner in which corporations report benefits to the U.S.
Government’s regulatory bodies, not all plans will have
been uncovered or correctly evaluated during our effort to research
this data. Also, the availability to employees of such plans will
vary according to the qualifications that employees must meet
to become eligible. For example, some benefit plans may be available
only to salaried workers—others only to employees who work
more than 1,000 hours yearly. Benefits that are available to employees
of the main or parent company may not be available to employees
of the subsidiaries. In addition, employers frequently alter the
nature and terms of plans offered.
NOTE: Generally, employees covered
by wealth-building benefit plans do not fully own (“vest
in”) funds contributed on their behalf by the employer until
as many as five years of service with that employer have passed.
All pension plans are voluntary—that is, employers are not
obligated to offer pensions.
Pension Plan: The firm offers
a pension plan to qualified employees. In this case, in order
for a “Y” to appear, the editors believe that the
employer offers a defined benefit or cash balance pension plan
(see discussions below). The type and generosity of these plans
vary widely from firm to firm. Caution: Some employers refer to
plans as “pension” or “retirement” plans
when they are actually 401(k) savings plans that require a contribution
by the employee.
• Defined Benefit Pension Plans: Pension plans
that do not require a contribution from the employee are infrequently
offered. However, a few companies, particularly larger employers
in high-profit-margin industries, offer defined benefit pension
plans where the employee is guaranteed to receive a set pension
benefit upon retirement. The amount of the benefit is determined
by the years of service with the company and the employee’s
salary during the later years of employment. The longer a person
works for the employer, the higher the retirement benefit. These
defined benefit plans are funded entirely by the employer. The
benefits, up to a reasonable limit, are guaranteed by the Federal
Government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. These
plans are not portable—if you leave the company, you cannot
transfer your benefits into a different plan. Instead, upon retirement
you will receive the benefits that vested during your service
with the company. If your employer offers a pension plan, it must
give you a summary plan description within 90 days of the date
you join the plan. You can also request a summary annual report
of the plan, and once every 12 months you may request an individual
benefit statement accounting of your interest in the plan.
• Defined Contribution Plans: These are
quite different. They do not guarantee a certain amount of pension
benefit. Instead, they set out circumstances under which the
employer will make a contribution to a plan on your behalf.
The most common example is the 401(k) savings plan. Pension
benefits are not guaranteed under these plans.
• Cash Balance Pension Plans: These plans were
recently invented. These are hybrid plans—part defined benefit
and part defined contribution. Many employers have converted their
older defined benefit plans into cash balance plans. The employer
makes deposits (or credits a given amount of money) on the employee’s
behalf, usually based on a percentage of pay. Employee accounts
grow based on a predetermined interest benchmark, such as the
interest rate on Treasury Bonds. There are some advantages to
these plans, particularly for younger workers: a) The benefits,
up to a reasonable limit, are guaranteed by the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation. b) Benefits are portable—they can
be moved to another plan when the employee changes companies.
c) Younger workers and those who spend a shorter number of years
with an employer may receive higher benefits than they would under
a traditional defined benefit plan.
ESOP Stock Plan (Employees' Stock Ownership
Plan): This type of plan is in wide use. Typically, the
plan borrows money from a bank and uses those funds to purchase
a large block of the corporation’s stock. The corporation
makes contributions to the plan over a period of time, and the
stock purchase loan is eventually paid off. The value of the plan
grows significantly as long as the market price of the stock holds
up. Qualified employees are allocated a share of the plan based
on their length of service and their level of salary. Under federal
regulations, participants in ESOPs are allowed to diversify their
account holdings in set percentages that rise as the employee
ages and gains years of service with the company. In this manner,
not all of the employee’s assets are tied up in the employer’s
stock.
Savings Plan, 401(k): Under this
type of plan, employees make a tax-deferred deposit into an account.
In the best plans, the company makes annual matching donations
to the employees’ accounts, typically in some proportion
to deposits made by the employees themselves. A good plan will
match one-half of employee deposits of up to 6% of wages. For
example, an employee earning $30,000 yearly might deposit $1,800
(6%) into the plan. The company will match one-half of the employee’s
deposit, or $900. The plan grows on a tax-deferred basis, similar
to an IRA. A very generous plan will match 100% of employee deposits.
However, some plans do not call for the employer to make a matching
deposit at all. Other plans call for a matching contribution to
be made at the discretion of the firm’s board of directors.
Actual terms of these plans vary widely from firm to firm. Generally,
these savings plans allow employees to deposit as much as 15%
of salary into the plan on a tax-deferred basis. However, the
portion that the company uses to calculate its matching deposit
is generally limited to a maximum of 6%. Employees should take
care to diversify the holdings in their 401(k) accounts, and most
people should seek professional guidance or investment management
for their accounts.
Stock Purchase Plan: Qualified
employees may purchase the company’s common stock at a price
below its market value under a specific plan. Typically, the employee
is limited to investing a small percentage of wages in this plan.
The discount may range from 5 to 15%. Some of these plans allow
for deposits to be made through regular monthly payroll deductions.
However, new accounting rules for corporations, along with other
factors, are leading many companies to curtail these plans—dropping
the discount allowed, cutting the maximum yearly stock purchase
or otherwise making the plans less generous or appealing.
Profit Sharing: Qualified employees
are awarded an annual amount equal to some portion of a company’s
profits. In a very generous plan, the pool of money awarded to
employees would be 15% of profits. Typically, this money is deposited
into a long-term retirement account. Caution: Some employers refer
to plans as “profit sharing” when they are actually
401(k) savings plans. True profit sharing plans are rarely offered.
Highest Executive Salary: The highest
executive salary paid, typically a 2004 amount (or the latest
year available to the editors) and typically paid to the Chief
Executive Officer.
Highest Executive Bonus: The apparent
bonus, if any, paid to the above person.
Second Highest Executive Salary: The
next-highest executive salary paid, typically a 2004 amount (or
the latest year available to the editors) and typically paid to
the President or Chief Operating Officer.
Second Highest Executive Bonus:
The apparent bonus, if any, paid to the above person.
Other Thoughts:
Apparent Women Officers or Directors: It
is difficult to obtain this information on an exact basis, and
employers generally do not disclose the data in a public way.
However, we have indicated what our best efforts reveal to be
the apparent number of women who either are in the posts of corporate
officers or sit on the board of directors. There is a wide variance
from company to company.
Hot Spot for Advancement for Women/ Minorities:A
“Y” in appropriate fields indicates “Yes.”
These are firms that appear either to have posted a substantial
number of women and/or minorities to high posts or that appear
to have a good record of going out of their way to recruit, train,
promote and retain women or minorities. (See the Index of Hot
Spots For Women and Minorities in the back of the book.) This
information may change frequently and can be difficult to obtain
and verify. Consequently, the reader should use caution and conduct
further investigation where appropriate.
Growth Plans/ Special Features:
Listed here are observations regarding the firm's strategy, hiring
plans, plans for growth and product development, along with general
information regarding a company's business and prospects.
Locations: A "Y" in the
appropriate field indicates "Yes."
Primary locations outside of the headquarters, categorized by
regions of the United States and by international locations. A
complete index by locations is also in the front of this chapter.
