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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pat mudge who wrote (13535)	10/6/1999 7:12:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18016

This is one company to watch... ITF sets its sights on Newbridge, Nortel for fibre optic technology Device boosts capacity Robert Gibbens Financial Post MONTREAL - A three-year-old research firm backed by Terry Matthews, chairman of Newbridge Networks Corp., is investing $10-million to get into full production with components it says can multiply fibre optic networks' transmission capacity by 40 times. ITF designs and makes devices that combine and separate multiple wavelengths of light on a single fibre, thereby boosting capacity. They are adapted for multimedia and Internet markets. Eric Geoffrion, founder and chief executive of ITF Optical Technologies Inc., said he started with two employees in January, 1997, and the payroll has since climbed to 110. The investment program, backed by a $630,000 grant from the government of Quebec, will create more high-tech jobs next year, the company said. ITF said it will be supplying firms such as Nortel Networks Corp. and Newbridge. "The market for these photonic products is exploding because of the Internet and universal access to information," Mr. Matthews said. "ITF has the right product at the right time because raising capacity of existing networks is much less costly than building more fibre optic lines." Mr. Matthews, via his private venture capital company Celtic Investments Inc., holds 20% of ITF and Newbridge itself holds 10%. Other backers include the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan board, and GTI Capital Inc., a Montreal venture capital group. In all, Mr. Matthews has backed nearly 30 high-tech start-ups, said Paul Goyette, Newbridge spokesman.

To: pat mudge who wrote (13535)	10/6/1999 3:59:00 PM
From: zbyslaw owczarczyk	Respond to of 18016

FCC OKs Ameritech-SBC Merger By KALPANA SRINIVASAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators cleared the way today for a marriage between Ameritech Corp. (NYSE:AIT - news) and SBC Communications, a deal that would bring together two regional Bell companies to form the nation's largest local phone company. Approval by the Federal Communications Commission is the final step for the deal -- originally valued at $57 billion -- which already has been cleared by the Justice Department and state regulators. Through one of the largest mergers in U.S. history, now worth more than $70 billion, the combined business would control 57 million, or one-third, of the nation's local phone lines spread across 13 states. ``It is the most momentous merger we have ever approved,' said FCC Chairman Bill Kennard. ``The commission has never approved a more comprehensive set of conditions to further competition in local markets.' This summer FCC staff recommended approval of the deal, based on a series of conditions proposed by the two parties. Under the terms, SBC-Ameritech would enter 30 new markets within 30 months to compete with established local phone companies. The combined business must provide deep discounts on key pieces of their networks to rivals who want to buy them. The companies also would have to establish a separate subsidiary to provide advanced telecommunications services such as high-speed Internet access. In order to ensure compliance, the conditions included stiff penalties. If they fail to meet the new market deadline, the companies could face a $40 million-a-market fine, up to a $1.2 billion cap. The conditions ``are unprecedented in their detail, their clarity and their enforceability and the vigor with which they inject competition in these monopoly markets,' Kennard said. San Antonio-based SBC and Chicago-based Ameritech say the merger is good for consumers and competition. They believe it will spur local phone competition and possibly lower prices, accelerate the roll-out of high-speed Internet access and data services, and create jobs. But major long-distance companies and consumer groups had expressed concern about the merger. MCI WorldCom, Sprint and AT&T (NYSE:T - news) had argued that the concessions offered by SBC-Ameritech were accompanied by so many other limitations that they would not aid competition. Those three companies also would face a potent rival if the merged company eventually wins federal permission to provide long-distance service to its local phone customers. Consumer groups had opposed the deal, arguing that the merger conditions do not go far enough to protect the public interest. The 13 states in the proposed merger are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The merger was approved in a unanimous vote among the five commissioners. However, some commissioners dissented on the conditions of the deal.