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Technology Stocks : Qwest Communications (Q) (formerly QWST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Willy Mena who wrote (1482)	6/12/1998 3:31:00 PM
From: MangoBoy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6846

sounds like your Unidial deal kicks butt. QWST's US West package: 10c/min - long distance 12c/min - intra-state long distance (inter-LATA) no monthly fee and no minimum use requirement rounding - don't know i don't understand the 800# part. mark

To: Willy Mena who wrote (1482)	6/12/1998 3:43:00 PM
From: MangoBoy	Respond to of 6846

[Excel viewed as target] (i can imagine much more useful ways for QWST to spend its money, like buying WCII and ARTT, fONOROLA and/or METNF in Canada, or more European assets, or all of the above. this dog don't hunt, IMO. -- mark) NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Excel Communications Inc. has moved to the top of the list of closely watched potential takeover targets in the fast-consolidating telecommunications industry, according to analysts and traders. With legions of independent representatives, unique in the industry, whose sales create heavy long-distance volume, Excel's best merger match is one of the companies laying hundreds of miles of new fiber-optic cable -- the multimedia pipelines that become more cost-efficient with increasing traffic. Named as most likely bidder is Qwest Communications International Inc., followed by Level 3 Communications Inc., IXC Communications Inc. and Williams Cos. Inc., the sources said. Excel's price tag would be significant -- $3.54 billion based on about 136 million Excel fully diluted shares outstanding and a current market price of $26 per share, a total that excludes any takeover premium and $500 million in Excel long-term debt. In midsession NYSE trade on Friday, Excel shares traded at 26, up 3/8, approaching its year high of 29-3/8. The market buzz has lifted the stock in the past two weeks to nearly 28, up from a low of 13 touched in mid-January. ''I would be extremely surprised if Excel lasted (as an independent company) through the end of the summer. I don't think they are going to resist (a takeover),'' said Eric Paulak, research director at Gartner Group, Stamford, Conn. ''Excel is 99 percent a reseller, so they have a lot of traffic these new 'next-gen telcos' need on their network to lower per-unit costs. So it makes a lot of sense for them to buy someone like Excel,'' Paulak said. Traders said speculation about an Excel merger has heated up in recent days on a rumor the Dallas-based company suspended its share buyback program, a move they said would facilitate a stock-swap, pooling-of-interest transaction. A spokeswoman for Dallas-basd Excel declined to comment on the merger speculation, and said the repurchase program remains. She declined to comment when asked if the company has stopped buying its own shares. ''We don't disclose interim (buyback) activity. We only report that on a quarterly basis,'' she said of the program to buy up to 10 million Excel shares launched last December. Spokesmen for Level 3 and Williams declined to comment, citing corporate policy about market speculation. Telephone calls to Qwest and IXC for comment were not returned. ''It would be appropriate for Qwest to buy Excel because Qwest has rolled out more IP (Internet protocol) services focused on niche customers interested more in lower price than higher quality. Excel has built up its billion dollars in revenues by focusing on the exact same thing,'' Paulak said. Farley Shiner, analyst at Scott & Stringfellow, said Excel's appeal also is its distribution system composed of independent reps structured in a multilevel marketing system, similar to the the household products company Amway. ''It is an organization that can continue to add minutes on its systems going forward. So I think the distribution side of it probably is more important that just sheer quantity,'' he said. Shiner's group of potential Excel buyers is topped by the U.S. regional bell operating companies (RBOCs) that are looking for ways into the long-distance business, but ''their hands are tied right now by the FCC,'' or Federal Communications Commission. There were originally seven Baby Bells spun out of the AT&T Corp (T - news) break-up in the 1980s. The number has been cut to five through mergers, and will drop to four assuming closure of the pending deal between SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. Under the 1996 Telecommunication Act, the Baby Bells must first open their local telephone markets to competition before being allowed into the long-distance market. The FCC has rejected four regional Bell long distance applications, saying the companies had failed to sufficiently open their local markets. ''In 18 months I believe those handcuffs, at least for some of those companies, will be off. So I really saw them (the RBOCs) as the most likely group'' to bid for Excel, Shiner said. ''But certainly there are other players that could strike sooner and it may be that these companies that may be looking at Excel could potentially be setting themselves up for an acquisition by an RBOC 18 months later,'' he added.