Yet Illinois law officials said they would ask state utility regulators to reconsider their approval. Illinois attorney general Jim Ryan and Cook County state's attorney Dick Devine said they would file a petition for rehearing within 30 days.
Ryan and Devine said the commission failed to set as a condition of the merger an immediate rebate of $472 million to consumers--the amount experts said would be saved by the corporations as a result of the merger.
Earlier today, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved the transaction in a 3-to-2 vote.
Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard has said he expects the agency to rule on the combination by "early fall."
San Antonio, Texas-based SBC and Chicago-based Ameritech combined would create the biggest U.S. local phone company, comprising a third of local phone lines in the nation.
The companies and FCC staff agreed in June to conditions on the transaction aimed at increasing local phone competition and improving consumer access to high-speed Internet services.
The companies filed a revised plan earlier this month, and the FCC is still reviewing it.
One of the key conditions accepted by the companies is to compete in 30 local telephone markets in the next 2 years outside the territory they now serve. That's important politically because regulators and legislators are growing increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of competition in the local residential phone business.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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