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Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David C. Burns who wrote (2445)	5/17/1999 2:50:00 PM
From: polarisnh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4298

Boy, this a surprise! Bell Atlantic opposes competition is more like it! Bell Atlantic To Oppose AT&T, MediaOne Deal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE:BEL - news) will use its formidable lobbying weight to try to block AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news)'s purchase of MediaOne Group Inc., opposing a part of the long-distance titan's strategy to compete head-on with the local telephone powerhouse in the U.S. Northeast. Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of New York-based Bell Atlantic, Monday said federal regulators ought to block the $58 billion deal because it would give AT&T too much power over monopoly cable lines that reach 60 percent of American homes. ''The MediaOne-AT&T transaction simply went too far at this juncture and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) should simply stop that transaction,'' Seidenberg told reporters after a speech to the National Consumers League here. AT&T's first foray into cable, purchasing No. 2 cable operator Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMP - news) for $48 billion, faced little outright opposition and was approved in less than a year. But growing unease about the planned takeover of No. 3 cable operator MediaOne could make it more difficult to the have latest deal approved. Seidenberg pointed to AT&T's earlier acquisitions of TCI, competitive local phone carrier Teleport, IBM's global communications network and other deals. ''Let's see what they can do with it,'' he said. ''Let's give them a chance to implement the things they've said they would do but don't let them gobble up the next set of companies and create effective control where it will change the dynamic of the Internet forever.'' AT&T officials said they expected Bell Atlantic to oppose their deal. AT&T has sought to block Bell Atlantic's $53 billion purchase of GTE Corp. (NYSE:GTE - news) ''This merger is about bringing local phone competition to consumers, so we're not surprised that the head of a monopoly Bell company would object to it,'' an AT&T spokeswoman said. AT&T officials have also hotly contested the 60 percent access figure Seidenberg cited, which they said included cable facilities where AT&T had only a minority ownership stake. Counting only cable systems that AT&T would control or operate, the company could reach about 25 to 30 percent of households, AT&T argues. The Bell Atlantic-GTE merger would give Bell Atlantic control over local phone lines into about one-third of U.S. homes, but Seidenberg said telephone companies are more heavily regulated than cable companies. ''The Bell Atlantic-GTE transaction is subjected to far more scrutiny and open architecture than any cable company,'' he said. ''There are many more effective controls in the marketplace than exist for the cable companies.'' In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T shares were up 25 cents at $59.1875, and shares of MediaOne were down $1.0625 to $77.125. Shares of Bell Atlantic rose $1.125 to $57.125.