Early Player be careful. Check this out from the ATHM thread. Could be why AOL voluntarily gave up on flat rate 800 numbers. Jeff
Message 11414515
Sorry to do this, but yet another rumor:
lineone.net
****
BT aims for huge US Internet deal
FROM GRAEME BEATON
IN WASHINGTON
British Telecom partner AT&T has held talks with America Online on a partnership likely to send shudders through Freeserve and other Internet service providers on both sides of the Atlantic.
The deal, under intermittent discussion, would place BT, AT&T, high-speed Internet provider and portal Excite@Home and AOL in what one analyst dramatically dubbed "a gorilla" alliance.
AT&T owns a controlling interest in Excite@Home, which offers online access through cable TV in parts of the US and Canada.
The companies involved declined to comment on the talks, which sources said are complex and might not end in an agreement. But rumours of a link-up between AT&T and AOL have sent AOL's shares soaring 20 per cent in the past five days.
One story has insisted that AT&T would team up with BT to buy AOL, whose market value is close to œ70billion.
However industry sources said it was more likely AOL - keen to gain greater control over telecom systems which form the backbone of its online business - would seek a partnership.
AT&T, in the process of buying American cable giant TCI, would also offer AOL a platform for high-speed Internet service through set-top boxes or similar technology.
The implications of a tie-up between BT, AT&T and AOL are far-reaching in Europe. The addition of the AOL brand to BT's existing services would coincide with greater co-operation between the biggest telecom companies in both the UK and the US.
BT and AT&T are expanding their alliance into mobile phone services in the US and seeking additional synergies.
A deal would also set the stage for co-operation between AOL, which has been struggling to compete with Freeserve, and BT's newly launched Internet services.AT&T is also trying to expand its Worldnet Internet service with discounts for phone customers.
>> |
