You said that you don't believe their newsletter.
No I didn't say that! I said don't let them sway your decisions with their favorite picks. I think they do a good job most of the time. Like all of us, all their suggestions don't pan out, so they quickly can them,as we do when an investment doesn't turn out to be what we expect. They do offer, timely information which aids me in making financial decisions. They save me time because they collect information and have it in one location. I still look to many other sources.
I think 3com will go up, if they are successful with MCI, I would expect them to have a very bright future. I don't see how Cisco or Ascend would effect their price. The buyout plans didn't help ASND, but then again neither did the UUNET deal, for now?
WorldCom/MCI deal may improve Net access at higher prices
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 3 (Reuter) - If WorldCom Inc. succeeds in its $35 billion pursuit of MCI Communications Corp.,
Internet access is likely to improve, analysts said on Friday, but the deal could accelerate a trend toward higher prices.
Internet access providers have already been struggling to make money in the current environment where the norm is
all-you-can-eat Internet access at a flat rate of $19.95 a month.
Already, CompuServe Corp. -- which earlier this year disbanded its flat-rate consumer service called Wow! -- on
Wednesday announced an unlimited pricing plan of $24.95 a month.
So a possible merger between WorldCom and MCI -- which together would control over 60 percent of all U.S. Internet
traffic -- could accelerate the move to higher prices for better service.
``It is conceivable that they will carry about half the consumer traffic'' in the United States, said Kate Delhagen, an analyst at
Forrester Research, in Cambridge, Mass. ``The good news is that it's a very robust network and traffic will flow very well.''
Delhagen added that the ``dicey part'' is that WorldCom's vice chairman, John Sidgmore, who is also the head of UUNet
Technologies Inc., started charging access fees to the Internet service providers who go through the UUNet service for
access. UUNet, which was purchased by WorldCom, runs an Internet backbone, or Net trunk line.
``Flat rates may creep up,'' Delhagen said. WorldCom and MCI ``have enormous market clout, they are carrying a massive
amount of Internet traffic.'' And with WorldCom's proposed deal to buy America Online Inc.'s network, called ANS, and
CompuServe Inc.'s network, it will handle even more Internet traffic.
``I think you will pay a certain stipend a month to sign up with an Internet service provider and you will pay an additional rate
for certain services, for value and for certain applications that require more bandwidth,'' or a bigger Internet pipeline, said
Don Heath, president of the Internet Society. ``This deal will encourage investment in services and products. Flat rate pricing
in the end won't last. This deal will hurry it along.''
A WorldCom spokesman was not immediately available to discuss future pricing plans. But analysts also said that because of
WorldCom's recent investments, by acquiring companies and infrastructure, service will also improve.
At the time of its surprise MCI bid, WorldCom also announced a deal to purchase Brooks Fiber Properties of St. Louis, for
$2.4 billion in stock. Brooks Fiber has high-speed fiber optic networks in 33 cities.
``It will speed up broadband access,'' said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects in Washington.
``There is tremendous potential.''
Dzubeck also said he doubts WorldCom would be among the first to come out with higher, staggered Internet access prices
because the new billing systems would be complicated and difficult to install quickly during a huge merger, such as the
proposed MCI deal.
Good luck,
Jeff |
