There is another deal today for T as well. Another 1.35 billion collected for selling some shares of Japan Telecom.
I'm feeling better and better about T. They have a lot of debt but they are slowly getting out of it. Their game plan is good too. Armstrong says they plan to consolidate in the metropolitan areas (where all the money is).
You can bet ATHM is a major part of the plan. T has recently increased the already major pipes it leases to ATHM.
The "digital telephone" idea is gaining ground. You can buy 4 phones and a large block of phone time for $42/mo. Everything runs over the same cable that brings you ATHM. I don't have the figures with me, but I did the number crunching and it was much lower than other phone rates. I asked if a small business could sign up and they said not yet. I assume this means they have as much as they can handle right now.
I know we are in a recession but this all bodes well for us as the rate cuts start to take traction later on and spending increases.
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home-news.excite.com
AT&T Seals Two More Deals
Updated: Tue, Feb 27 04:54 PM EST
By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Rapidly chiseling away at its mountain of debt, AT&T Corp. has struck two separate deals to sell its 10 percent stake in Japan Telecom Co. for $1.35 billion and some cable TV systems in four states for about $2.2 billion.
The transactions, unveiled Tuesday, will help reduce AT&T's debt to about $42.5 billion, down from a peak of $62 billion in the fall. Credit agencies warned AT&T to reduce its debt load when the company announced plans to split into three independent companies.
The Japan Telecom stake is being sold to Vodafone Group PLC, giving the British wireless company 25 percent of Japan's third biggest phone company.
The deal comes three months after AT&T aligned itself with a different Japanese carrier, selling 16 percent of its wireless business for $9.8 billion to NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile phone company.
Separately, AT&T also announced an agreement to sell cable systems serving about 840,000 basic subscribers in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to Mediacom Communications Corp.
The systems in Georgia serve Albany, Columbus, Tifton and Valdosta. The systems in Illinois serve Charleston, Carbondale, Effingham, Marion, Moline and Rock Island. The Iowa systems serve Ames, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Iowa City, Mason City and Waterloo. The Missouri systems serve Columbia, Jefferson City and Springfield.
Mediacom, based in Middletown, N.Y., will more than double its customer base with the acquisition, serving 1.6 million cable subscribers in 23 states.
The sale would leave AT&T Broadband with about 15 million cable TV subscribers across the nation.
"Our long-term goal is to operate cable systems clustered in major metropolitan markets," said Dan Somers, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Broadband.
The Mediacom deal doesn't have any bearing on the current three-way stalemate between AT&T, AOL Time Warner Inc. and the Federal Communications Commission regarding AT&T's vast cable holdings.
The FCC has ordered AT&T to bring its ownership of cable systems below the government limit by selling its 25.5 percent stake in Time Warner Entertainment.
However, talks to sell the stake to AOL Time Warner have reportedly bogged down over AOL's desire to include new distribution agreements for its programming over AT&T cable systems.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that AOL Time Warner has offered $9 billion to $10 billion to buy out AT&T's stake. To bolster its bargaining position, however, AT&T is threatening to sell its stake in Time Warner Entertainment through an initial public offering of stock, a move that would handcuff AOL's control of TWE.
Meanwhile, AT&T also has filed to spin off Liberty Media Corp., a holding company for interests in major programming companies, including AOL Time Warner, as well as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Starz Encore Group, QVC, and Discovery Channel.
Shares of AT&T rose $1.07, or 5 percent, to $22.91 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. |
