With AT&T making mergers with first TCI,
and now potentially THIS, how can they
even think of stopping the Qwest long
distance marketing through companies
such as US West?!? I'd be more worried
abut covering my Trust-conspiring
ass...
Taken from news.com...
July 25, 1998, 12:25 p.m. PT
NEW YORK--AT&T may forge an
international partnership with British
Telecommunications, with an
announcement coming as soon as
tomorrow, industry sources said.
AT&T and BT were expected to form
an international joint venture but not
seek a formal merger, since such a
massive combination would likely
raise the ire of antitrust regulators on
both sides of the Atlantic, industry
sources said.
The partnership would focus on
providing communications services to
large multinational business customers,
industry sources said. Other details
were not immediately available.
The two companies declined to comment.
But some industry analysts said AT&T had
contacted them yesterday evening,
telling them to be prepared for a press
conference in Manhattan tomorrow afternoon.
Cable television station CNBC and the
Financial Times each reported an
AT&T-BT joint venture was imminent,
citing sources close to the deal.
AT&T has been actively pursuing
potential international partnerships,
while BT has been searching for a new
U.S. partner since the failed deal with
its former mate, MCI Communications.
BT's plans to merge with MCI were
scuttled last year by a higher bid from
rival WorldCom.
AT&T has explored new overseas
partnership possibilities under the
internal code name "Project Athena,"
an industry source said.
AT&T Chairman C. Michael
Armstrong said last month that AT&T's
$48 billion agreement to buy cable
television giant Tele-Communications
Incorporated would not stop it from
quickly strengthening its presence
overseas. A partnership with BT
would fulfill one of Armstrong's final
goals for transforming AT&T.
Armstrong, who joined AT&T last
November, said his priorities included
strengthening the telecommunication
giant's wireless, Internet, local
telephone, and international
operations.
Armstrong said AT&T wanted to
control the communications networks
over which it transmits voice and data
traffic. A partnership with BT would
give AT&T a way to provide a wide
range of services with guaranteed
quality to its large multinational
clients, analysts said.
An alliance between AT&T and BT
has been rumored for months, since BT
will be free to forge new partnerships
once former partner MCI closes its
planned merger with WorldCom. BT
will receive about $7 billion for its
minority stake in MCI, giving it cash to
invest in new ventures.
Other companies such as local
telephone operators Bell Atlantic, SBC
Communications, and GTE had also
been seen as potential BT partners, but
AT&T would instantly give BT a
national distribution network in the
United States. |
