More of same (Associated Press):
Friday May 14, 1:43 pm Eastern Time
Global Crossing May Buy U S West
By NOELLE KNOX
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Baby Bell phone company U S West Inc. is in talks to be
acquired by Global Crossing Ltd., a telecommunications upstart run by a former AT&T
(NYSE:T - news) executive, a person familiar with the situation said Friday.
U S West, a Denver-based provider of phone service in 14 western and midwestern states,
declined to comment.
Global Crossing, which is building a worldwide fiber optic network and recently agreed to buy a phone company named
Frontier Corp. (NYSE:FRO - news), did not return calls seeking comment. Earlier this year, the Bermuda-based company
lured Robert Annunziata away from AT&T to be its chief executive.
The $11.2 billion Frontier deal may present a regulatory obstacle to a merger between Global Crossing and U S West.
In addition to providing local service in 32 states, Frontier is one of the nation's 10 biggest long-distance companies. As a
provider of local phone service, U S West is forbidden from owning more than 10 percent of a long-distance company.
With the addition of Frontier, Global's fiber network would connect 159 cities in the United States, Japan, Europe and Latin
America. The Bermuda-based company is also planning undersea networks to link up four continents.
U S West is the nation's biggest provider of high-speed Internet access over digital subscriber lines, or DSL, a fledgling service
that works over regular telephone wires.
DSL is considered the most worthy rival to the cable television wires that AT&T is using to build a multimedia network for TV,
phone and Internet service.
Last month, AT&T agreed to acquire MediaOne Group, the nation's fourth largest cable company and formerly a sister
company of U S West. That deal included an alliance with Comcast (Nasdaq:CMCSK - news), the No. 3 cable company.
Along with AT&T's pending alliance with Time Warner and its recent purchase of Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMP
- news), AT&T will have access to the four largest cable systems in the nation.
In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, U S West shares were up 50 cents at $60.50 while Global Crossing's
Nasdaq-listed shares were down 37 1/2 cents at $59.62 1/2.
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AP Business Writer Bruce Meyerson contributed to this report.
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