Williams Communications to Acquire Ameritech Long-Distance Network Assets From SBC Communications; Sale of Ameritech Assets Part of SBC-Williams Strategic Alliance
February 29, 2000 06:35 PM
TULSA, Okla., Feb. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The network unit of Williams Communications WCG , an international provider of telecommunications services and products for the carrier marketplace, and SBC Communications Inc. SBC , today announced a joint agreement in which Williams will acquire long distance network assets of Ameritech Communications Inc., a subsidiary of SBC.
The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of the two companies and is subject to review by applicable governmental authorities, will transfer ownership of Ameritech's 2,200-route mile operational fiber- optic network including rights of way, equipment and facilities, to Williams Communications. This acquisition will further extend Williams Communications' network, already the largest next-generation network in the United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The network assets involved in this transaction are spread over a multi- state region comprising Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. They include a dense fiber count network, multiple voice and data switches, points of presence and optical amplifiers.
"Williams Communications is providing the broadband capacity required to drive revolution in the telecommunications industry," said Howard E. Janzen, president and chief executive officer of Williams Communications. "The assets in this agreement complement Williams' existing network, speeds our time to market and further extends our ability to meet the explosive demand for bandwidth and enable carriers to effectively deliver advanced applications and services to the retail marketplace."
Williams Communications, the sole carrier-focused provider of network services and capacity in the nation, intends to use the assets to support its growing customer base that includes companies such as Intel Corporation, Telefonos de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. and SBC Communications.
Last month, Williams Communications announced SBC has begun transitioning its traffic onto Williams' network backbone through its subsidiary SBC Wireless.
As part of an alliance agreement entered a year ago, Williams provides the transport, upon regulatory approval, of SBC's long-distance data and voice traffic, while SBC will become an anchor tenant on Williams' advanced fiber- based ATM backbone network.
"This agreement further leverages our strategic alliance with Williams and reflects the merger integration process with Ameritech, enhancing our efforts to deliver value to our customers and shareholders," said Dennis Wagner, vice president, long-distance and SBC Telecom implementation, SBC.
Williams Communications' network currently has 26,000 route miles of fiber deployed, 24,000 route miles lit and a total of 33,000-planned route miles connecting 125 cities by the end of this year. The fully integrated architecture of the Williams Multi-Service Broadband Network(TM) couples ATM core switching with advanced optical networking technologies to provide carriers with data, voice, video and Internet services. Williams Communications has earned widespread industry recognition for its network architecture -- most recently the International Engineering Consortium's InfoVision award.
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