Agreed AT&T is not the leader but the follower...NOW. They were indeed the leader in long distance carriers, even after the dissolution of Ma Bell. But Cable is still more releiable than telephone wires, and more easily and quickly repaired. Granted improvements will be made, and they are betting heavily that they can accomplish this. I think they stand a good chance because
1)They already spending mega buck and have been for a year trying to see how they can increase bandwisth and how they can acomplish the same and better reliability of current cable access.
2)Armstrong has muffed mergers before, in fact he's rather famous for striking a golden deal and letting the implementation slide. He has hired a special team to work on just this merger. And they are smart, tough and ready to do battle.
3) If you live in certain parts of this country you have a LAn modem to access the internet, and you don't need a seperate phone line. It is lightening fast (you can't even read the normally long messages (12% of 12k)it goes so fast. And even in a storm when cable tv is out, I'm still connected(no, I don't know why that's the case but it is)
Att recognized all these factors, and the fact people want the most they can get from one company-simplified billing and customer service. One stop shopping in a world of convenience if you will.
Check out some interesting thoughts on this deal on www.stockholdr.com on t's message board. Also, keep an eye on www.ft.com-the financial times website that offers rather a keen point of view |
