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Strategies & Market Trends : Stock Watcher's Thread / Pix of the Week (POW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RCJIII who wrote (8740)	5/14/1999 9:37:00 AM
From: Intl_Guy	Respond to of 52051

RCJIII - Found recent Edgar post of Sprint/ATEL deal details - edgar-online.com

To: RCJIII who wrote (8740)	5/14/1999 10:59:00 AM
From: Intl_Guy	Respond to of 52051

MCI Worldcom Strikes Again Dow Jones Newswires The following report was aired Thursday on CNBC-TV by CNBC reporter David Faber: "The latest deal in the wireless-cable world shows that MCI Worldcom is still busy, SBC Communications made a poor decision and Prime Cable has a knack for making money. Details of this deal are sketchy at this point as all the parties involved are either not returning calls, not commenting or haven't gotten answers yet from somebody higher up from they are. So I may have more details later, but here's what I know now. A wireless-cable system in the Los Angeles area known as Prime One TeleTV has been sold for an undisclosed sum to MCI Worldcom. The price here is a detail that has been hard to come by. It is believed to range from $200 million to as much as $650 million for this system, which currently offers a video product to subscribers in the Los Angeles area. As I've been reporting for months now, MCI Worldcom and Sprint have been battling over these properties in order to control wireless spectrum that they will use to bypass the local phone company in serving the voice and data needs of their customers. Evidently, this L.A. property, which was once part of the old TeleTV system run by Howard Stringer, is one that both companies valued. It has millions of potential line of sight homes. It has 40 channels of spectrum, which is a lot and because of the geography in the region, the antennas placed on surrounding hills make for strong reception. In recent weeks, sources told me both Sprint and MCI Worldcom were interested in purchasing this L.A. system. A Worldcom spokesperson has not responded to a request for information on the telecom company's purchase. Whatever the price tag, the move is a slap in the face for SBC Communications. That baby bell wound up with this system along with other regular cable systems after purchasing Pacific Telesis back in 1997. SBC sold its interests in cable systems in Washington and Chicago to Prime Cable in September of 1997 as part of a plan to exit the Cable TV business. In 1998, SBC did another deal with Prime. Saddled with what was money-losing wireless cable spectrum in Los Angeles that it has no need for, SBC sold it for a sum it still will not disclose, but is believed to be substantially less than the current value. Now, not only has SBC watched as Prime makes a bundle on Spectrum it received for free. But perhaps more importantly, that Spectrum will be used by SBC's competitor MCI to avoid paying the baby bell for access to the local consumer."