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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Secret_Agent_Man who wrote (6089)	11/25/1999 10:19:00 AM
From: Secret_Agent_Man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

November 24, 1999 AT&T Plans to Issue Tracking Stock For Mobile and Fixed-Wireless Assets By REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AT&T Corp. has decided to issue a tracking stock for its booming wireless business, including its fixed-wireless assets, according to people close to the company. The decision to include the fixed wireless technology is significant, and reflects AT&T's growing confidence it can use the medium as an alternative to cable-television lines as it attempts to provide local-telephone service nationwide. After it closes its pending acquisition of MediaOne Group, a Denver cable-TV company, AT&T will own access to about one-third of the nation's homes; and though some have questioned whether the technology can work on a wide scale, AT&T intends to use fixed wireless to reach many homes that it can't reach via cable. AT&T shares soared Monday on a report in The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition that the company was moving closer to the wireless tracking stock. But while many analysts and investors have pushed the idea, there is a measure of risk: Tracking stocks, which do not convey any ownership of the company's assets, haven't always performed as well as hoped. AT&T is expected to formally unveil the tracking stock, which will include both its mobile and fixed-wireless assets, at a long-awaited meeting with Wall Street analysts on Dec. 6. The AT&T division is the nation's largest wireless company with more than 10 million customers, compared with the 4.5 million customers of Sprint Corp., of Westwood, Kan. Sprint, whose wireless tracking stock has performed extremely well, has agreed to be acquired by MCI WorldCom Inc., of Jackson, Miss. Eager to build confidence among investors and the cable community, the company is expected to tell analysts that it is naming AT&T Chief Financial Officer Daniel Somers as the permanent head of its cable and broadband operations. Mr. Somers has held the position on an interim basis since October, when Leo Hindery, the former head of Tele-Communications Inc., resigned. AT&T is searching for a successor for Mr. Somers. Among the leading contenders are Charles H. Noski, 47, president and chief operating officer of Hughes Electronics Corp. Mr. Noski couldn't be reached for comment. C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T's chairman and the former chief executive of Hughes, agreed when he joined AT&T not to raid Hughes for two years, but that period has ended. AT&T President John Zeglis is the leading candidate to be named chief executive of the company to be tracked by the new stock. The assets of that division could be valued at as much as $60 billion, analysts estimate. Some analysts expressed concern, however, that Dan Hesse, the president of AT&T's current wireless operations, may leave if the top position is handed to Mr. Zeglis. But others said the creation of a new stock could greatly enrich Mr. Hesse and that he will have plenty of challenges as the new company tries to meet exploding demand for wireless services. Although AT&T's meeting with analysts is two weeks away, the company's plans are of intense interest because AT&T's stock has been hobbled by concerns about how quickly its expensive bet on cable will pay off. Analysts have long favored the idea of tracking stocks as a way to ease the pressure on AT&T's stock, by isolating the earnings for capital-intensive divisions such as the wireless operations from the company as a whole. Analysts estimate AT&T's mobile wireless business alone will require at least $3 billion in capital in 2000; a renewed push into fixed wireless would cost at least $1 billion. Such stocks also create a new currency for the units to use in acquisitions. After news that the tracking stock was being considered, AT&T's stock on Monday rose almost 12%, the biggest jump in more than a decade. At the 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange close Tuesday, AT&T was down $1.3125 at $50.75. AT&T also may choose to issue a tracking stock for its fast growing business-outsourcing unit, known as AT&T Solutions. People close to the company said AT&T isn't entertaining any such plans for its cable holdings. People close to the situation said the company's decision to emphasize its fixed-wireless technology reflects concerns that it will not be able to strike enough local-telephone agreements with rival cable operators. Indeed, the company hasn't yet signed any such deals with major cable companies, a delay that has disappointed AT&T executives. Fixed wireless uses airwaves and antennas attached to buildings to bypass the copper telephone wires controlled by the Baby Bell telephone companies. People close to AT&T say the company can harness the digital-wireless licenses it owns in many major U.S. markets. AT&T intends to use the technology to deliver phone service and high-speed Internet service. Unlike in its relationship with Excite At Home Corp., which obligates AT&T to use that service exclusively on its cable lines through 2002, AT&T is free to strike deals with any Internet-service providers for its fixed-wireless holdings. AT&T has talked about using its wireless licenses to deliver local phone service for more than three years. Those plans haven't materialized because of the high cost of deployed antennas and other gear. Mr. Armstrong has said in recent months that AT&T has lowered the cost to about $750 a home from about $1,100, matching the cost of converting cable lines into phone lines. --Joann Lublin and Leslie Cauley contributed to this article.

To: Secret_Agent_Man who wrote (6089)	11/26/1999 3:07:00 AM
From: jack bittner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

i have a press release from Lucent on its new OpticAir photonic solution to the last mile: 20 Gbp/s!! - that's far higher data/speed than wireless and will go 5km (Sept. 2000). no frequencies to apply for, and pay for. highly secure. fast. easy installation says lu. T, or anybody else, could have an all-photonic solution to LMDS. isn't that better than wireless? sure, light by definition reflects on opaque material, but OpticAir will go point to point LOS, as does fixed wireless; and doesn't the immense increase in bandwidth cry out for attention? GlobalStar's testing it next month. i wonder why nobody talks about it. j lucent-optical.com