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Technology Stocks : PCW - Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (1212)	5/17/2001 9:28:08 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2248

PCCW lashes out at media's 'preposterous drivel' 2001-05-18 Terms and Conditions PACIFIC Century CyberWorks (0008) yesterday launched an all-out attack on the media for ''ill-founded'' and ''ill-informed'' reports on its joint ventures with Australian operator Telstra. CyberWorks deputy chairman Alex Arena slammed local and international reporters for writing baseless negative news stories ''attributed to various self-styled experts''. ''How can some media write such preposterous drivel?'' Mr Arena exclaimed during an address to the CLSA Investors' Forum conference in Wan Chai. Bloomberg news wire service, used by most investment banks and many newspapers worldwide, was singled out for criticism. Mr Arena described as a ''classic offender'' a Bloomberg piece last week that reported Telstra taking ''key posts'' in Reach, an IP backbone joint venture with PCCW. ''It is with a sense of both amusement and outright annoyance that we see ill-founded and ill-informed speculation in otherwise reputable media,'' said Mr Arena. ''This has been picked up and run unquestioningly by other media in Hong Kong, Australia and beyond. I cannot see how such reporting does much to inform the investment community,'' he added. Mr Arena slammed the media for reporting four ''myths'' - Telstra controls Reach; PCCW has no operational telecoms experience (both allegations aimed at the Bloomberg story); PCCW is seeking to exit its joint ventures; and that Reach will suffer from a collapse in bandwidth prices. Mr Arena said there was no truth in any of these myths. But journalists and the investment analysts who are often cited in press reports didn't back down. ''We stand by our story,'' said Bloomberg Hong Kong bureau chief Sue Hill, who added that CyberWorks hadn't contacted Bloomberg to ask for a correction, which is standard practice if a mistake has been made. ''We issue a lot of corrections. When we discover we've made some kind of mistake we make correction without delay or excuse,'' she said. Ms Hill said she couldn't comment on any steps Bloomberg might take to defend allegations against its report. The initial story said analysts believed the tilt towards Telstra executives in senior operating positions in Reach ''may signal lack of technical experience among senior CyberWorks executives''. It quoted Wilson Fong of SGY Asset Management, who said: ''CyberWorks' management are not telecom people; they are financial engineers. CyberWorks has lost many telecom veterans, like Norman Yuen former Hong Kong Telecom chief operating officer .'' Mr Arena said yesterday: ''I think the thousands of dedicated PCCW people that have provided quality, world-class domestic, international and cellular telecoms services in this city for decades have just cause to feel insulted by these allegations.'' At the time of the article, Bloomberg contacted CyberWorks, but the company declined to comment. Mr Arena's claim that a collapse in bandwidth prices would be good for Reach was also hotly disputed by industry analysts, who have warned for months that the venture faces tough competition and narrowing margins. Mr Arena claimed lower bandwidth prices would help Reach, because the venture sold high value services based on bandwidth and wasn't just a commodity-selling ''pipe-builder''. But Eric Tomter, investment analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson said Reach would still be hit by increased competition, with a clutch of new undersea cables run by Level 3, Global Crossing and others being landed in Hong Kong and across the Asia-Pacific region. Mr Tomter said bandwidth prices could fall by 70 per cent to 80 per cent. And he said PCCW's rivals had the same strategic position as Reach and were also aiming at value-added corporate services. ''That's the segment that's under most threat from competition,'' Mr Tomter said. PCCW was previously criticised for not correcting media mistakes - when chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai was wrongly described by many newspapers and magazines as a Stanford University graduate, whereas in fact he dropped out of college. Mr Arena wouldn't be drawn on the ''irony'' of this latest attack on media ''myths''. PCCW group chief financial officer David Prince had earlier trumpeted the firm's improved position on CLSA's corporate governance rankings. CLSA head of telecom research Edison Lee said PCCW's disclosure was ''much better than before'' but there was ''still some way to go''. Terms and Conditions Copyright© 2000 LEXIS-NEXIS, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights Reserved. quamnet.com