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Technology Stocks : Williams Communications Group - WCG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: samoyed who wrote (332)	1/26/2000 6:08:00 PM
From: samoyed	Respond to of 609

And on another front, how about the BCE/Nortel anouncement today? IMHO, we should see what I said here earlier about WMB/WCG and their ability to spin off WCG this April. We should see a similar action as the spinoff of WCG would benefit all holders of each. Read the news on BCE/Nortel and watch what happens tomorrow. Any opinions? õ

To: samoyed who wrote (332)	1/27/2000 2:37:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 609

Thanks for heads up on WorldWide Fiber. I'll check SEC for underwriters. Pat

To: samoyed who wrote (332)	1/27/2000 2:52:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 609

Positive mention in today's IBD: Date :01/27/2000 Author :Pete Barlas [Interview with NextLink's CEO] When it comes to cooking up a telecommunications feast, it's hard to name a better chef than Dan Akerson. He knew what ingredients to add at Nextel Communications Inc., backed by cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw. Akerson built Nextel into one of a handful of wireless phone players with national reach. He did such a good job that McCaw last year gave Akerson a new project: Put Nextlink Communications Inc. on the fast track. Bellevue, Wash.-based Nextlink is taking on the regional Bells in local telephone markets. This month, Akerson spiced up Nextlink's competitive brew. Nextlink said it will buy Cupertino, Calif.-based Concentric Network Corp., an Internet service provider that targets small and midsize businesses, for about $2.9 billion in stock. A former top executive at MCI Communications Inc., Akerson recently spoke with Investor's Business Daily about Nextlink. IBD: Why does the combination of Nextlink and Concentric make sense? Akerson: We've been a very voice-centric company, and they're a data-centric company. They're aggressively selling digital subscriber line (DSL, high-speed Internet access) services. They're the second-largest Web hoster for small businesses, and they're getting more into application-based services. They have an indirect sales force through value-added resellers and channels, while we have a direct sales force. IBD: Regional Bell SBC Communications Inc. and long-distance carrier Williams Communications Group Inc. are two investors in Concentric. Will they remain investors if the Concentric-Next-link merger goes through? Akerson: We hope to have discussions with them. I could see where they could be partners. If they cash out, they'll make a lot of money. Could we have a strategic relationship with one or both of them? Possibly. IBD: Isn't SBC a rival of Nextlink, since it's trying to break into local phone markets? Akerson: They are and they aren't. There's an interesting concept in this industry called "coopetition" - your competitor today is your partner tomorrow. There's a lot of out-of-region coverage that SBC doesn't have. They struck an alliance with Concentric to do out-of-region DSL. We'll have to make a decision. For the near and intermediate term, it may benefit both of us. It depends what their objectives are and what ours are. IBD: Nextlink owns capacity on a new national fiber-optic network that Level 3 Communications Inc. is building. How does that fit in with the Concentric deal? Akerson: They (Concentric) have a long-haul contract with Williams that we would honor, of course. By the end of this year, we'll have built out roughly 60 cities nationwide with a combination of metro fiber and broadband wireless. So we're going to generate a lot of voice and data traffic. We're going to link those cities with long-haul fiber, our (Level 3) asset. At the same time, we'll start cross-selling into the respective customer bases of Nextlink and Concentric and offer bundled voice and data services. IBD: What local DSL connections does Concentric have? Akerson: Concentric has essentially been reselling DSL products from Covad Communications Group and Northpoint Communications Group. Once the merger is complete, Concentric will be selling their own products by virtue of having Nextlink's connections. We had plans to provide our own DSL equipment in Bell central offices. We're going to build out our own DSL footprint. That doesn't mean we still won't have a relationship with Covad, Northpoint or Rhythms NetConnections. We will. There may be some Bell central offices where we're not located in. So we want those relationships. That's what I mean by coopetition. IBD: How big a player is Concentric in the Web hosting market? Akerson: They're pointed at the same market we are, the small and midsize business market. They're No. 2 behind Verio Inc. There's a huge gap between No. 2 and No. 3 in that market, though. Concentric has over 125,000 shared-hosting customers. We'll come in with a bundled service offering, not as a one-dimensional company. Small or midsize businesses have relatively small, not so sophisticated (technical) staffs. They want a one-stop solution for the network side of voice and data services and, at the same time, the Internet, Web-hosting side of it. Even small businesses need a Web presence in the future to be competitive. IBD: Is Nextlink interested in buying more Internet service providers like Concentric? Akerson: We'll be opportunistic. But I think this fills out our dance card in terms of functionality. Concentric also gives us a beachhead in Europe. They're in the midst of completing an acquisition of Internet Technology Group in London. But we might want greater scale, so I wouldn't rule (more acquisitions) out.