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To: djane who wrote (7459)	9/20/1999 3:06:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 29987

VodaBell'? Possible Trans-Atlantic Ties Have Many Observers On Edge From the September 20, 1999, issue of Wireless Week By Paul Quigley LONDON--It is 5 a.m. on a tranquil August morning in England's Berkshire countryside. Dew graces the freshly cut lawns of a stately mansion as a black Aston Martin DB7 sports car quietly cruises along the stone driveway to the highway leading toward Heathrow airport and secret talks in New York. Chris Gent, the hard-nosed realist and CEO at Vodafone AirTouch plc glances into the rearview mirror at the receding image of his Lambourn home, birthplace of Alfred the Great, the Anglo-Saxon King of England. He clicks on the car radio. A news-reader is in mid-sentence, saying something like "... billions wiped off Vodafone's stock price yesterday following a rogue trader's ..." But the reception breaks up as Gent's car enters a long tunnel. By the time he emerges, furiously channel hopping, the news has moved on. Gent gnashes his teeth as he accelerates towards Heathrow, his mind racing at the maddening and unexpected tidbit of news concerning his company. As it turned out, the momentary loss in stock values had been real--triggered by a simple mistake by a nervous trader--though it was quickly rectified. The trader's nervousness, and the scale of the news it created, however, highlight the fishbowl atmosphere that surrounds current talks between Vodafone and Bell Atlantic Corp. Today Gent is in shuttle diplomacy mode, mending bridges with Bell Atlantic that were fractured by the breakup of the two companies' PrimeCo Personal Communications LP alliance, and looking toward some new alliance of mutual benefit. Clandestine dialogs have been taking place between Gent and Bell Atlantic chiefs for months. But Gent recently let slip to analysts that the current status of these discussions with Bell Atlantic suggested to him a "20 or 30 percent success rate" for a deal, igniting Vodafone's stock price. Sources inside Vodafone say that "negotiating in public" has made life tougher on Gent--if a deal doesn't materialize the company's share price would fall again. Vodafone subsequently was forced to make a formal positioning statement by the London Stock Exchange. The company confirmed it was continuing to review a number of options for "developing its U.S. mobile operations, including a possible alliance with the U.S. mobile network of Bell Atlantic." Vodafone attempted to downplay the talks, adding that discussions with Bell were continuing, "but there can be no assurance that any agreement will be reached." In the wake of the rumors about Gent's quiet journeys to the Big Apple, analysts and speculators tried to cash in on any potential trans-Atlantic deal between the two companies. Rattled equity investors and speculators around the world realized something was cooking when one poor soul--a trader at the London-based office of investment bankers Lehman Brothers--got jumpy and accidentally entered the wrong "sell amount" key on the stock exchange automated trading system, initiating a chain reaction that wiped out $20.8 billion from Vodafone AirTouch's stock value. Fortunately for Gent, however, the oversight was short-lived and Vodafone's stock soon regained its original value. But it did enough to prove that during the past few days investors were watching Vodafone's every move minute-by-minute. While simultaneously sorting out a U.S. wireless product to challenge AT&T Wireless' popular Digital One Rate offering, Gent is trying to snare Bell Atlantic's international wireless properties. If the two behemoth carriers can work out a mutually beneficial arrangement, Vodafone may exact just such a price for a minority stake in Bell Atlantic. This is a key part of Gent's acquisition trail. Bell's overseas wireless properties complement Vodafone's current global roster. Returning home late to leafy Lambourn, Gent pulls up in the driveway to the sound of the church bells of St. Michael & All Angels pealing in the distance, heralding the return of a prodigal son. Renowned Lambourn is famous not only for being the birthplace of King Alfred, but also as the scene where the last man in England was hanged for arson. One hundred years later, another of Lambourn's stewards is setting fire to the status quo in the wireless world. \| Home Page \| Site Map \| Search Archive \| PowerSearch \| \| International \| Wireless Web Sites \| Hot Stories \| Please send comments and suggestions on this Web site to wwweb@cahners.com Wireless Week, P.O. Box 266008, Highlands Ranch, CO 80163-6008 Voice: 303-470-4800, Fax: 303-470-4892 Published by Cahners Business Information ¸ Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.