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To: J Fieb who wrote (41047)5/14/1999 10:46:00 AM
From: BillyG  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 50808
 
MCI makes new wireless cable move
news.com

By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 13, 1999, 4:50 p.m. PT

MCI WorldCom has purchased another wireless cable firm, this time looking for
wireless broadband access in Los Angeles, according to media reports.

The long distance company has reportedly bought the Tele-TV division of Prime One
Cable, which could give it broadband access to millions of customers in the Los Angeles
and Orange County areas, according to cable news service CNBC.

MCI WorldCom and Sprint have spent the last two months
bidding against each other for a handful of wireless cable
companies around the country, in an attempt to find new
ways to reach homes directly without going through the local
telephone networks.

The companies are playing catch-up to AT&T's similar--if far
more ambitious--strategy of buying traditional cable
companies such as Tele-Communications Incorporated and
MediaOne. All three long distance companies want to offer
packages of local and long distance service, high-speed
Internet, and video programming to their customers.

The wireless cable companies, most of which have struggled
in and out of bankruptcy for the last several years, beam
video programming directly to a subscribers' home. But the
technology can also be used for a high-speed Internet
connections or local telephone service.

In an ironic twist, the Tele-TV properties were once owned by
Pacific Bell, which was acquired by SBC Communications, according to Tele-TV. SBC
sold the assets after deciding to get out of the cable business. Now, however, the Tele-TV
wireless division may be used to compete directly with SBC's own local phone service
when MCI WorldCom rolls out its plans for local telephony.

Prime One and MCI WorldCom declined to comment on the reported purchase.