Local Telephone Service Firm Is Bought Out : Communications: Business Telemanagement of Santa Ana is acquired along with a Santa Barbara long-distance provider by a holding company that plans a single-billing service.

A holding company in Santa Barbara said Monday that it has bought a local telephone service company in Santa Ana and a long-distance provider in Santa Barbara for $42 million.

WCT Communications Inc. said it acquired Business Telemanagement Inc. in Santa Ana and West Coast Telecommunications Inc. in Santa Barbara, which together have annual revenue of about $50 million.

Richard Frockt, chairman of WCT, said the acquisitions will position his company to provide single-billing local and long-distance telephone service as soon as the state Public Utilities Commission allows. Such “seamless” service eliminates the need to contact two different companies.

The agency is expected to let smaller telephone operations offer combined service in 1993, Frockt said. Until then, the two subsidiaries will operate separately.

Together, the two companies have 106 employees, including 28 in Santa Ana. West Coast Telecommunications is a third-tier long-distance operator that offers service in the West.

Business Telemanagement leases local phone service for businesses from Pacific Bell and markets it to companies in Irvine, El Toro, Anaheim and Santa Ana.

Analyst Courtney Monroe at Northern Business Information, a telecommunications research firm in New York, said the merger is a necessary step if WCT is to compete against larger long-distance players such as AT&T;, Sprint and MCI.