Headcount tweaked SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) last week when it observed that the service provider was looking a bit silly with its public statements. On one hand, SBC complains that its competitors cost jobs by not building their own networks from scratch. While complaining, though, SBC itself, which has cut nearly 30,000 jobs since 1999, continues to lay people off (see Buddy Can You Share a Line?).

SBC responded with a note that, more or less, said that its layoffs are the government's fault. While it welcomes competition, SBC -- and we're just summarizing here -- thinks regulators are ruining the industry by not allowing it to function, unfettered, as a natural monopoly.

"Essentially, companies like SBC are being forced to subsidize their competitors..." writes an SBC spokesman. "When you're forced to sell a product to your competitors for less than cost, things get turned around. Which leads to the proposed job cuts you mentioned in your article."

While Headcount is counting the seconds until its phone service is cut off, let's take a moment to review the past week's hirings, firings, and other telecom employment news:

Christopher Galvin, grandson of Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) founder Paul Galvin, resigned after disagreeing with the rest of the board over the company's "pace, strategy and progress at this stage of the turnaround," according to a statement released by Motorola on Friday. "It is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership," Galvin is quoted as saying.

Galvin became Motorola's CEO in 1997 and its chairman in 1999. Motorola had 150,000 employees worldwide in 2000; it expects to have around 90,000 by the year's end. Galvin, however, faired well during Motorola's massive restructuring. Since 2000, Galvin pocketed about $5.65 million in salary and bonuses -- and that doesn't include the millions he controls in company stock and options.

Judging from the market's reaction, shareholders weren't real keen on Galvin. Motorola gained $1.02 (9.20%) to $12.11, on a day when the Nasdaq Composite had slipped 2 percent in late afternoon trading.

Corvis Corp. (Nasdaq: CORV) is set to announce more management appointments in the coming weeks. Headcount reported last week that Lynn Anderson is leading the finance team of both Corvis and its Broadwing Inc. subsidiary, which caused some to ask: Is Broadwing being run by networking equipment types or service provider types?

Sources close to Corvis say Broadwing's service provider core is still intact. Richard Putt, Rick Calder, and Mike Stewart are still leading Broadwing's sales and business development efforts. Mike Jones remains chief technology officer. And the company hired Vyvx founder Delwin Bothof as a strategic consultant this summer, to help Broadwing add to its video distribution business. What is changing is that Corvis is taking over Broadwing's finance, legal, human resources, and other corporate functions, sources say.

Innovance Networks has cut all but about 50 employees, according to Canadian news reports. The company didn't return several phone calls from Light Reading. But Peter Allen, Innovance's CEO, did acknowledge to The Ottawa Citizen that the company is "engaged in some short-term opportunities, but the timing is really uncertain."

Translation: Get your flower orders in and drop the black bombazine at the cleaners.

Innovance, which employed more than 310 employees in February 2002, has watched its long-haul peers transform or go under in the past six months. Ceyba Inc. closed (see Ceyba Shuts Down). PhotonEx Corp. closed (see Ex-PhotonEx? ). Xtera Communications Inc. bought the Metro-Optix carcass (see Xtera Nabs Metro-Optix Assets). And Corvis has more or less become a service provider. Innovance, meanwhile, just keeps getting smaller. About this time last year, the company cut some 80 people from its workforce, and that layoff was only eight months from a smaller cut of 25 (see Innovance CEO: Layoff a 'Rebalance').

Riverstone Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: RSTN) spokesman Peter Ruzicka has left the router maker to join his old boss, Andrew Feldman, at Force10 Networks Inc., says a source close to Riverstone. There is no truth to the rumor that Riverstone's new spokesman will be Joe Isuzu, sources say.

Here's a summary of other industry appointments (and disappointments) from the past several days:

• Mosaid Cans CAMs
• Sprint Outlines Restructuring
• Corvis Morphs Along
• Alcatel Appoints Execs
• Inifineon Gets New IR Head
• iBasis Names Retail Exec
• Infineon Opens Pudong HQ
• Kamelian Gets SOA Design Win
• OpVista Adds Two Sales VPs
• DCL: Hiring Toward Profits

That's all for now. If you know of a layoff or new hire that we didn't cover, by all means, pass the baton along to [email protected]. If we don't respond quickly, it's probably the government's fault.

— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
www.lightreading.com