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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roy F who wrote (1305)	10/24/1998 1:15:00 PM
From: David Wiggins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Interview with CEO Sam Ginn: TERRY KEENAN, CNNfn ANCHOR, STREET SWEEP: Joining us now, someone else who is bullish about [ Airtouch Communications ] (Company: Airtouch Communications Incorporated; Ticker: ATI; URL: airtouch.com ). He is the chairman and CEO of the company. Sam Ginn joins us now from our San Francisco bureau and Mr. Ginn welcome to STREET SWEEP) Nice to have you with us today. SAM GINN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, AIRTOUCH COMMUNICATIONS: Nice to be here. KEENAN: Nice quarter that you had during a period when lots of other companies are find tough going and (16:41:10) as Sasha Salama just reported you had twice the growth in international customers than you had this time a year ago. How did you do that in the period (16:41:20) of international financial turmoil? GINN: Well, the international business is simply booming. I think what is happening here is the penetration levels are so far below the potential in (16:41:30) these markets that even though they're having economic problems in the economy our services continue to grow very robustly. KEENAN: You also seem to have picked your markets pretty (16:41:40) well. Countries such as Sweden Portugal, Italy, yet you were also seeing growth in Japan. Do you think the economy there perhaps has hit bottom? GINN: We're pretty optimistic (16:41:50) about Japan. I was there a couple of weeks ago visiting our operations. We grew over 500,000 customers in Japan last quarter. Aside from the real estate market, (16:42:00) if one looks at the competitiveness of Japanese industry it seems to be there. Unemployment is under 5 percent. When you walk the streets you don't see evidence of (16:42:10) economic decline. I think they're positioned to come back over the next couple of years. KEENAN: You're now in about a half dozen countries. What other areas do you (16:42:20) plan to grow in internationally? GINN: Well, we're in many countries around the world. We start up Egypt here next month a new opportunity for us. Last year it (16:42:30) was Romania and Poland. Then we're all across Europe, Korea, Japan and India. So, we're in 13 countries around the world. KEENAN: All right, Mr. Ginn. All right we're (16:42:40) just being told something by our producers but evidently its been canceled. So, we can continue talking with you, which is good news. GINN: That's good. KEENAN: I noticed (16:42:50) your stock off a bit from its 52 week high of 65, but you've been aggressively buying up shares. Why are you doing that and will you continue to? GINN: Well, yes. If you look at our stock price though I think we started the year in the low 40s. So, we've had a good run this year (16:43:00) in spite of the fact that we're down from our all time high. We're buying our shares number one because we're generating a lot of cash. We look around (16:43:10) to deploy that cash and we think investing in our own stock is a wonderful alternative. So, we have been buying our stock aggressively for the last two months. KEENAN: Some people have expressed - some analyst on Wall Street have expressed concern about your partnership with [ Bell ] Atlantic (Company: Bell Atlantic Corporation; Ticker: BEL; URL: bel- (16:43:20) atl.com/) now that Bell Atlantic is going to buy GTE (Company: [ GTE Corporation ] ; Ticker: GTE ; URL: gte.com. Does that merger effect your alliance with Bell (16:43:30) Atlantic at all? GINN: Well, it potentially could. We have an operating alliance with Bell Atlantic. The GTE properties causes some conflicts. We're very hopeful that we'll be able (16:43:40) to sit down with the parties involved and negotiate those conflicts in a way that everyone is satisfied. KEENAN: Domestically how does your business look and what are your (16:43:50) biggest challenges going forward here in the U.S? GINN: Well,, you know, the U.S. market is very, very competitive. Prices are coming down. They're all kind of (16:44:00) promotions in the market. I think what we have to do is continue to improve our coverage. We have to put in quality systems. We have to segment our (16:44:10) markets and we have to stay competitive with the four, five six competitors that we face in each of our markets. We've been able to do that. Our margins, (16:44:20) our operating cash flow margins in the United States even with all this competition is 49 percent and that's up from 48 percent last year. So, we're doing a (16:44:30) good balance job in the United States and I'm very pleased with the team that is executing on our plan. KEENAN: All right. We're going to have to leave (16:44:40) it there. Congratulations on your quarter. Thanks for joining us. GINN: Thank you very much.