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To: William Hunt who wrote (9958)	10/12/1999 8:53:00 AM
From: William Hunt	Respond to of 21876

THREAD ---AT&T, British Telecom to Expand Orchestra For Their 'Concert' By GAUTAM NAIK Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GENEVA -- Attempting to distance themselves from failed telecommunications alliances of the past, AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications PLC said they were stepping up expansion plans for their new global venture, Concert. Concert, which has constructed an Internet-based network in 22 cities in 17 countries, plans to double that reach early next year. At a news conference at a telecommunications show here, it also announced plans to expand its frame relay service -- a high-speed network used by corporations -- by 50% to 60 countries. AT&T's previous attempt at a global venture, AT&T-Unisource, largely failed to deliver and will be disbanded next year. British Telecom had more success with a similar alliance with MCI Communications Corp., but that was terminated following WorldCom Inc.'s acquisition of MCI. Another venture called Global One, between Deutsche Telekom AG, France Telecom SA and Sprint Corp., has also had a troubled history. "We had a bad experience in the past," acknowledged John Zeglis, AT&T's president, in an interview. Most of those failures, he added, reflected "a poverty of execution." AT&T and BT have chosen to expand through an alliance partly because it is a cheaper proposition than making large acquisitions. AT&T executives stressed that the current venture with BT was set up differently and therefore was more likely to succeed. Concert will own virtually all of the transmission facilities, switches and other gear of the global network, giving it greater control over customer service and making it easier to launch new offerings quickly. Previous alliances were based on looser arrangements between partners and scores of far-flung distributors, which led to network incompatibilities. Concert is partly counting on size to succeed. It will have $10 billion in revenue, 8,500 employees and a network reaching into 1,000 cities. While some other ventures, including Global One, show losses, Concert will show an immediate profit, according to AT&T. Concert is awaiting approval from the Federal Communications Commission, but it expects to be up and running a month after receiving it. In the past 12 months, BT and AT&T have planned the steps by which they expect to eliminate duplicate facilities and launch new services. A full integration of their international assets is expected to take a year to complete. Concert's rivals will include MCI WorldCom Inc., which already has a large network in Europe and is in the process of acquiring Sprint. That proposed transaction has triggered new questions about the fate of Global One, which Concert now hopes to use to its advantage. "It adds more confusion to the marketplace. We see that as good news," said David Dorman, chief executive officer of Concert. Mr. Dorman is a former CEO of Pacific Bell. As a Sprint executive he also had a hand in the creation of Global One. To underscore their commitment to Concert, BT's CEO, Peter Bonfield, and his counterpart at AT&T, C. Michael Armstrong, were both present at the Geneva 99 trade show. In an interview, Mr. Armstrong said both intended to adopt a hands-off approach in the running of their new global venture. "If this doesn't work, it won't be because of the companies, but because Concert didn't rise to the occasion," Mr. Armstrong said. But, he added, "I expect this to work." BEST WISHES BILL