The leaders of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc. said Wednesday they are not interested in acquiring big long distance carriers, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference for media and telecom investors, SBC CEO Ed Whitacre said he would wait for the stock prices of the long distance companies to further fall before considering any deal, the news service reported.

„I wouldn’t say at some price you wouldn’t do something, but it’s certainly not in our plan now,“ Dow Jones quoted Whitacre.

BellSouth CEO Duane Ackerman said declining telecom and data revenue in the market for large corporations makes him wary of acquiring a long-distance provider, Dow Jones reported.

Analysts say the regional Bells are likely to eventually make a bid for long-distance carriers AT&T Corp. and MCI Inc., but BellSouth and SBC are busy seeking to close the $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless through their joint venture, Cingular Wireless.