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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2337)	1/11/1999 9:22:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Respond to of 3178

Well it looks like AT&T is trying to rule the world again: AT&T To Form Joint Ventures With Five Cable Operators NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1999 JAN 8 By Sylvia Dennis, Newsbytes. AT&T [NYSE:T] is diversifying into the field of joint ventures, announcing groundbreaking plans to form JVs with five Tele- Communications Inc. (TCI) affiliates. The idea behind the JVs, officials say, is to offer advanced communications services to customers in the TCI affiliate areas concerned. The TCI areas include those of Bresnan Communications, Falcon Cable TV, Insight Communications, InterMedia Partners and Peak Cablevision. Plans call for the details of the JVs to be confirmed in the coming few months, with the aim of starting pilot services by the end of the year, with a view to starting full commercial operations in 2000. According to company officials, the JVs will offer advanced services to both residential and business subscribers in the TCI areas. Planned services include multiple phone lines, with advanced calling facilities, such as conference calling, call waiting, call forwarding and individual message centers for family members. As reported previously by Newsbytes, AT&T has already announced plans to merge with TCI, which is now the second-largest cable operator in the US. Because TCI's service passes by at least 17 million households, AT&T has only just been granted Department of Justice approval for the deal outlined last June. The approval for the $48 billion merger was given on December 30, although Newsbytes notes that the Federal Communications Commission has yet to rule on the deal. C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T's chairman, not unexpectedly, is ebullient about the firm's plans for the JVs. He said that they bring the two firms one step closer to the goal of giving US phone users a choice in their local phone service. What's interesting about the JV plans is that they parallel moves by British Telecom (BT) in the UK, Newsbytes notes. Late last year saw a new company, Localtel, start to offer local loop services at a discount, across BT lines. Plans call for a variety of specialist firms to offer advanced services across BT circuits -- paying BT a line rental in the process -- to UK customers later this year. Back in the US, meanwhile, Armstrong said that the joint ventures are pursuing a facilities-based approach that will allow the company to deliver on its commitment to provide all-distance telephony service to its customers. Under the deals proposed today, AT&T says it expects to own between 51 percent and 65 percent of each of these joint ventures, and will have long-term exclusive rights to offer communications services over the systems of each of the five operators in return for one-time payments to be made when the systems meet certain performance milestones. According to company officials, AT&T expects the total of these payments to be in the tens of millions of dollars. In addition the operators will receive ongoing monthly telephony subscriber payments. Under the JV arrangement, the plan is for each cable company to bear the cost of upgrading its cable system to support two-way communications. Upgrade efforts are currently underway at each of the five cable companies and most expect to complete the process by the end of the year 2000. According to AT&T, the telephony JV, in each case, will bear the cost of adding communications equipment when a customer signs up for service. AT&T says it estimates those costs will eventually range from $300 to $500 per home, depending on whether the customer already subscribes to the cable operator's digital video service. Plans call for each telephony JV will report to Leo Hindery, Jr., the current president of TCI who will head AT&T's new cable services operations once the AT&T-TCI merger is complete.