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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GO*QCOM who wrote (54123)	12/15/1999 9:44:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

INTERVIEW: Telecom NZ Mulls CDMA Network Spin-Off - CEO By GRAHAM MORGAN SYDNEY -- Telecom Corp. of New Zealand (NZT) will consider listing its New Zealand Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, digital network as a separate vehicle, Chief Executive Theresa Gattung said Wednesday. Ahead of the potential public listing, Gattung will also examine synergies between Telecom's New Zealand network and the CDMA network of AAPT Ltd. (A.AAP) in Australia and decide whether a combination of the two would appeal more to investors. AAPT, Australia's third largest telecommunications concern behind Telstra Corp. (TLS) and Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd. (A.CWO), is around 80% owned by Telecom. "(A listing) is something we would put on the table to consider. Clearly the valuations for cellular companies are higher than fixed operators today, so it might be a good way to release value," Gattung said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "(Telecom and AAPT) spent quite a lot of time together looking at what is the best thing individually for the two organizations and then how we can get synergies arising," she added. AAPT Chief Executive Larry Williams said earlier this month he is looking at a potential Nasdaq listing for the AAPT CDMA business. Williams has earmarked A$250 million for AAPT's national CDMA rollout in Australia, scheduled to begin in the second half of next year. Telecom expects to spend NZ$180 million to NZ$220 million over the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, and the following financial year on its CDMA rollout in New Zealand. "(The CDMA rollout) is going to require funding and that could mean debt or equity, and various other players might potentially be interested in being part of a trans-tasman CDMA (listing)," Gattung said. Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) and Nortel Networks (NT) are currently bidding for the contract to supply the New Zealand CDMA network. No decision has been made on the preferred contractor, and Gattung doesn't expect to make an announcement on the winning bidder before Christmas. She noted Telecom and AAPT wouldn't necessarily use the same supplier. Telecom took control of AAPT after a A$5.10-a-share bid for the Australian company, valuing the target at A$1.5 billion. Before the bid, Telecom held 19.8% of AAPT. This month Telecom wound up with around 80% of AAPT, although the bid was aimed at boosting the existing shareholding to 50%, which Australia-based brokers said has created an overhang on the price of AAPT shares. Gattung thinks Telecom paid a good price for its increased stake in AAPT and said Telecom "would almost certainly never" reduce its stake below outright control. "If the right thing to do for AAPT was equity raising, and if the right way to do that was a private placement or listing and the consequence of that was that we got diluted down, we wouldn't have a problem with it," Gattung said. Shares of AAPT closed down 8 cents at A$5.15, in an equities market that finished up 0.4% at 3119 points Wednesday. Telecom Corp. of New Zealand shares ended 2 cents higher at NZ$8.84. The NZSE-40 Capital index closed up 15.01 points at 2147 points. -By Graham Morgan; 61-2-8235-2962; graham.morgan@dowjones.com Briefing Book for: A.AAP \| A.CWO \| A.TLS \| A.TNZ \| BCE \| BEL \| LU \| NT \| NZT \| T.BCE \| T.NT \| TLS