11:11AM S&P says wireline telecom sector to remain challenged (VZ, SBC, BLS, T) by Tomi Kilgore
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Standard & Poor's the wireline telecommunications sector will continued to be challenged into 2004 due to declining customer bases, increased competition, a glut of fiber optic capacity, a weakening economy and pension accounting issues. Equity analyst Todd Rosenbluth expects telecom service providers will continue to look beyond their traditional voice services businesses for growth, and will keep taking "aggressive action" to retain customers. "We also expect them to focus on cost cutting and asset sales to offset revenue declines, pension-cost expenses and high capital costs of 2003," Rosenbluth added. The Merrill Lynch Telecom Holdrs (TTH) fell 23 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $25.31. Among the sector tracking stock's more-heavily weighted components, Verizon (VZ) ticked up 9 cents to $35.10, SBC Communications (SBC) slipped 37 cents to $22.73, BellSouth (BLS) lost 52 cents to $25.25 and AT&T (T) was 23 cents lighter at $21.34. |
