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To: Libbyt who wrote (75344)	8/24/1999 10:19:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

*OT By Shasta Darlington SAO PAULO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - AT&T Corp., the No. 1 U.S. long-distance carrier, said Tuesday it agreed to buy Brazil's Netstream, entering the country's fast-growing market for Internet access and other telecommunications services. AT&T said it would spend about $300 million in the acquisition and initial expansion of Netstream, which provides high-speed Internet, voice, data and video services to the corporate world. Officials of the U.S.-based company, which is buying Netstream from Promon Tecnologia, a Brazilian engineering firm, did not break out the exact purchase price. "AT&T's intention is to grow with Brazil, one of the most dynamic and exciting telecommunications markets and one of the fastest growing in the world," said George Foyo, president of AT&T's operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. "AT&T signals its intention to be the leading provider of broadband services to business customers in Brazil," he added The acquisition marks another step in AT&T's recent international expansion, which includes investments in Canada, Japan and Mexico. Netstream, which will continue to be run by local managers, represents AT&T's first Brazil acquisition since opting out of the $19 billion privatization of the Telebras federal telecommunications system last July, analysts said. "This is a fast way for AT&T to get into Brazil and the data transmission and Internet business," said Eduardo Munemori, a telecoms analyst at Banco Santander in Sao Paulo. "It places them as one of the biggest players in Brazil." Netstream, an upstart that began operations in October 1998, has more than 400 customers and 30,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, one of the biggest networks in the country. The company focuses on data transmission packages and Internet access for companies, though it could also offer more basic telephone service when the sector opens up to competition after 2002, Netstream president Nilson Soares said. "Our business is based on three areas, voice, data transmission and Internet, but Internet has the biggest potential today," Soares said. Netscape expects to generate about $13 million in revenues in 2000, though that estimate could be revised upward once AT&T's purchase is approved by Brazil's regulators in about two months, Soares said. In the data-transmission business, Netscape will compete with telephone companies such as Telesp <TLPP4.SA>, which was bought by Spain's Telefonica <TEF.MC> last year, and long-distance carrier Embratel <EBTP4.SA>, owned by MCI WorldCom Inc. <WCOM.O>. It will go head-to-head with Globo Cabo, a cable TV provider owned by the giant Globo media group. Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> said just last week it planned to invest $126 million in Globo Cabo to expand its high-speed Internet services. Netstream will also compete with the Internet venture created by Brazil's Abril publishing group, analysts said. "This is going to mean big competition for Globo Cabo and Abril," Santander's Munemori said. Netstream already signed a contract to provide the backbone network for Canbra, a consortium including Bell Canada International Inc. <BI.TO>, WLL International and Qualcomm Inc. <QCOM.O> that is developing a fixed-line telephone network in Brazil's northern and eastern states. Sao Paulo-based Netstream has a 100 percent digitalized network that also spans Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte and is scheduled to reach another five major cities by the end of 2000. REUTERS Rtr 17:13 08-24-99