[from WSJ story on MCI/CWP deal]:
>>For Cable & Wireless, the benefits of the transaction are more clear-cut. The U.K. company is
automatically vaulted to the No. 2 spot in the business of providing wholesale Internet access.
"This network puts us in a league that we couldn't have built our way to," said Richard Brown,
chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless.
The sale also makes the $12 billion carrier a more attractive merger or alliance partner for U.S.
players, such as AT&T Corp. or GTE. "It's a migration path for our ambitions in the U.S.,"
home to two-thirds of the world's Internet traffic.
Under Mr. Brown's leadership, Cable & Wireless has become a more focused company,
shedding underperforming assets and making strategic acquisitions in international markets such
as Australia. In many of the places it operates, the company is a full-service provider, bundling
telephone, cable-television and Internet services for residential customers.
In the U.S., however, Cable & Wireless remains tiny, compared with rapidly consolidating
giants such as the proposed MCI-WorldCom and SBC Communications Inc., which aims to buy
neighbor (and Mr. Brown's former employer) Ameritech Corp. That has prompted observers to
speculate that Cable & Wireless will need a partner or get acquired by an American behemoth. << |
