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Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (4521)	5/21/1999 1:29:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

MCI WorldCom Talked To Australia's AAPT Friday May 21 9:40 AM ET SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - MCI WorldCom Inc. (Nasdaq:WCOM - news), The No. 2 U.S. long-distance telephone company that wants to break into the wireless phone business, has had merger talks with Australian carrier AAPT Ltd, a source close to MCI said Friday. AAPT, which is the subject of a A$1.5 billion ($990 million) hostile bid from Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd, will soon start the installation of a broadband wireless network using local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) technology. MCI WorldCom's Australian unit, which is building a fiber optic network, is interested in expanding its customer base and believes AAPT could be the vehicle to achieve this strategy. The cultures of the two companies are similar, with MCI WorldCom being a founding shareholder in AAPT when it was established in 1991. AAPT Chief Executive Larry Williams, who is bitterly opposed to the C&W Optus bid, first came to the company on secondment from MCI. The source said MCI WorldCom was interested in taking a stake, even a friendly merger, and has had talks with AAPT officials. ''They are very interested in AAPT,'' the source said. In Clinton, Mississippi, Bernie Ebbers, chief executive of MCI WorldCom, told shareholders Thursday that the company was planning to get into the wireless phone business, though it was not taking any immediate steps. Monday, MCI WorldCom's Australian Managing Director Susanne Campbell, was non-committal when asked if the company was interested in acquiring a stake in AAPT, the third-largest telecommunications carrier in Australia. ''I can't answer yes or no,'' Campbell told Reuters. Telecom New Zealand acquired 9.9 percent or 29 million shares of AAPT's issued capital Monday, but has remained silent on its intentions. It paid A$5.70 ($3.76) per share for its stake, well above the A$5 ($3.30) offer price of C&W Optus, the second- largest local telecoms group and majority owned by London's Cable and Wireless Plc. dailynews.yahoo.com