21.   Pacific Telesis and SBC Communications Corp. were the first two Baby Bell telephone companies to merge operations.

22.   Physicians also have fewer options on where to practice medicine, Schneller said, as hospitals consolidate and insurers merge operations.

23.   Some analysts have speculated that Chancellor and Capstar eventually may merge their operations.

24.   Some of the biggest banks have leapt at the chance to cut costs by merging their operations.

25.   Stocks rose on news Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. will merge their operations and that Cisco Systems Inc. will buy Stratacom Inc.

26.   The agreement between the companies to merge their U.K. businesses scuppers discussions between Nynex and Telewest Plc, the biggest U.K. cable company, this year to merge operations.

27.   The partners merged the operation last year into a penny-stock company controlled by Janovec, a company with significant financial obstacles of its own.

28.   The Wall Street Journal reported that the two Baby Bells might reach an agreement to merge their operations as early as Monday.

29.   Their agreement to merge international operations with British Telecom surprised a lot of people, but they could be a formidable competitor internationally.

30.   There is also growing skepticism about whether it can successfully merge its operations with those of IBP, and even uncertainty about whether it can complete the deal.