Earnings Feb. 2:
williamscommunications.com.
From website, note Salomon Smith Barney conference last week. Could account for stock jump. Also another conference this coming week.
From SEC filing:
sec.gov
Ownership (for those who haven't followed):
85.3% Williams Group
2.0% Intel
1.0% Telefonos de Mexico
4.36% SBC
7.34% float
In other words, not many shares available.
Interesting article from their website:
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Who needs candles?
ATL sells 120,000 phones in 2 days; SBC and Telmex join Williams in growing Brazilian wireless market
Instead of blowing out one big candle on its first anniversary, ATL chose to set the market on fire.
On two hot days in December, Algar Telecom Leste (ATL) S.A., Williams Communications' Brazilian wireless investment, signed up an astounding 120,000 cellular customers during its one-year anniversary promotion.
Cutting the price of phones and the activation fee in half, ATL grew its wireless subscriber base to more than 900,000 people, closing the gap dramatically on the 1.4 million customers that took its only competitor, Telefonica d'Espana, five years to win.
ATL's service area includes the two Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo and, while roughly 17 million people live and work in ATL's service area, only about two million have wireless service. This relatively low penetration presents a substantial growth opportunity for ATL and its investors, noted Carlos Henrique Moreira, president and CEO of ATL.
If that wasn't enough achievement for one month, ATL welcomed as new investors Williams Communications' North American allies, SBC Corporation and Tel‚fonos de M‚xico S.A. de C.V. At press time, Brazilian regulators were expected to grant final approval for SBC to operate ATL. SBC will also purchase the nonvoting stock of Brazil's Algar Group, a privately held company, and SK Telecom, the former operator and a joint venture between Williams and SKTI, the largest cellular operator in South Korea. Telmex will invest in ATL through SBC.
"ATL welcomes SBC and Telmex as they join Williams and Algar in building upon ATL's unprecedented growth, which was recently recognized with the 'Marketing Best' award by Funda‡Æo Getulio Vargas (FGV), the leading business school in SÆo Paulo," said Carlos. "This investment will strengthen ATL's competitive position by providing the basis for continued growth and profitability in the new millennium."
Executives at Williams, SBC, Telmex and Algar agreed that everyone is coming out ahead, especially ATL's customers and nearly 1,000 employees.
"After just one year in business, ATL already is one of the fastest-growing wireless providers in the world," said Howard Janzen, president and CEO of Williams Communications. "We're pleased to have SBC and Telmex join us in this investment so that we can continue to develop opportunities that leverage our companies' respective strengths and experiences."
"This is SBC's first venture into South America. And if you are going to be in South America, you have to be in Rio and SÆo Paulo, two of the hottest cellular markets anywhere," observed Miller Williams, Communications' senior vice president of international corporate development, who returned from Rio de Janeiro two days earlier. "The Brazilian economy is booming, and this is a great time to be in business there."
Miller credited ATL's amazing growth and attractiveness to investors SBC and Telmex to Carlos's leadership. A former country manager for Xerox in Brazil, Carlos "has been with us from the start, when we first won our B-band cellular license at auction in 1998."
"I attribute ATL's success to Carlos's leadership and putting the right team together," Miller said. Carlos's ATL management team includes Brian Schicker, Marketing; Julio Cesar Pinto, Administrative and Finance; Hilario Calvet, Technical; Jose Luis Souza, Commercial Operations; Jorge Fornari Gomes, Human Talent and Ruy Shiozawa, IT.
Under the terms of the contract, SBC and Telmex will acquire the nonvoting interest in ATL held by Algar Telecom, a private diversified Brazilian company. Williams Communications will slightly reduce its stake from 55 percent to a 50-percent economic interest in ATL. SBC and Telmex will have the opportunity to subsequently increase their economic investment to 50 percent in ATL upon regulatory approval. Until then, Algar retains an investment in ATL as well as voting and board control of ATL in accordance with Brazilian regulations. The companies hoped to complete the transaction by year-end, pending Brazilian regulatory approval.
ATL's wireless operations use the TDMA standard, the same technology SBC and Telmex use in most of their domestic wireless properties. TDMA also is the predominant wireless technology throughout Brazil, which gives ATL customers even greater roaming options than other wireless standards. SBC and Telmex, which serve 10.3 million and 4.1 million domestic wireless customers, respectively, expect that their TDMA experience will immediately benefit ATL.
"SBC is strengthening its global footprint by entering Brazil's booming wireless market. We're looking to build on ATL's strong start, and create long-term value for investors and customers," said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC. "This transaction is another important step toward reaching our goal of becoming a truly global full-service provider, and we believe that this investment will create long-term shareowner value while further extending SBC's global reach."
Concluded Jaime Chico Pardo, CEO of Telmex: "SBC and Telmex have considerable wireless experience and we're looking forward to sharing our best practices with ATL management for the benefit of customers and shareholders. We also look forward to working with SBC and ATL to help stimulate additional wireless competition throughout Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo while enhancing customers' lives by providing the most advanced wireless communications possible."
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