LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc completed its $1.75 billion cash acquisition of MCI Corp.'s U.S.-based Internet business, including its Internet backbone services, about 1,000 specialist employees, as well as its retail and Internet Service Provider customer base.Cable & Wireless now owns and operates an Internet...
WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week called for a boycott of two top wireless firms-AirTouch Communications Inc. and AllTel Corp.-for inadequate representation of African Americans in employment and contracting practices, a backlash becoming more pronounced as a result of affirmative-action curbs and increased telecom...
NEW YORK-Recent gyrations in the public capital markets have made for splashy headlines, but they are not likely to stop telecommunications mergers unless there is a prolonged and profound slump, said Dave Rhodes, senior vice president of Daniels & Associates, Denver.In terms of sheer...
NEW YORK-As mergers among telecommunications giants tear around the track at breathtaking speed, it may seem that domestic deregulation, intended to promote competition, has instead achieved consolidation.However, a glance in the rear-view mirror reveals a bevy of new competitive wireline local and interexchange carriers...
NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers broke records Aug. 6 in the debt markets, with WorldCom Inc. selling the largest corporate bond issue ever and a Bell Atlantic Corp. subsidiary, the biggest exchangeable note deal.The magnitude of the issues is all the more remarkable given a dicey...
The quest for international partnerships continued last week as AT&T Corp. announced a $10 billion joint-venture plan with British Telecommunications plc to more strongly position itself in the global market.AT&T and BT July 26 said they have agreed to pool their international operations and...
WASHINGTON-The European Commission last week gave conditional approval to the proposed merger between MCI Communications Corp. and WorldCom Inc.The approval is subject to the divestiture of MCI's Internet services business, which overlapped with WorldCom's to give the combined entity about 50-percent market share. The...
WASHINGTON-The European Commission in early July gave conditional approval to the proposed merger between MCI Communications Corp. and WorldCom Inc.The approval is subject to the divestiture of MCI's Internet services business, which overlapped with WorldCom's to give the combined entity about a 50-percent market...
SINGAPORE-If there's one good thing that has come out of the current economic crisis in Southeast Asia, it's the added push it has given to the long-talked-about and much-needed shakeout in the regional telecommunications market.Already, there have been rumblings of cash-strapped companies in Indonesia,...
MCI Communications Corp. apparently is selling cellular service to residential customers once again after customer service representatives had told potential customers MCI wasn't taking on new cellular subscribers after June 1.Kelly Seacrist, an MCI spokeswoman, said the company, which resells cellular service nationwide, never...
WASHINGTON-A seemingly parochial fight between a small San Diego firm and two European manufacturing giants over next-generation wireless technology could foreshadow a larger confrontation between the United States and the European Union and offer a glimpse into a future where transnational companies dominate the...
WASHINGTON-Telecom mergers, traditionally seen as threatening by organized labor, have become major platforms for unions and civil-rights groups to push their agendas and try to leverage concessions.As the Communications Workers of America and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition weigh in on telecom mega mergers, wireless...
WASHINGTON-The decision whether to approve the proposed $62 billion merger between SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. could be driven as much by politics as by antitrust scrutiny, judging from the hostile reception the deal received here last week.The announcement of the deal, which...
WASHINGTON-GTE Corp. filed a private antitrust lawsuit at a U.S. federal district court here last week in an attempt to block the planned $38 billion merger of WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp.The lawsuit alleges the merger would allow the combined company to monopolize...
NEW YORK-U.S. District Court of Maryland Judge Alexander Williams Jr. has dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit Comsat Corp. had filed Jan. 30 against IDB Mobile Communications Inc., saying it is the court's opinion that the Federal Communications Commission is the appropriate forum for...
OXFORD, England-In March, shareholders of the privatized Spanish operator Telefonica approved a new group structure as well as a proposal to raise Pta 600 billion (US$3.97 billion) through the largest-ever rights issue by a Spanish company. Approval was granted at the shortest-ever meeting in...
NEW YORK-GTE Corp. announced a series of asset sales and other actions April 2 that the company said are "designed to further sharpen its strategic focus and improve its competitive position."GTE said it expects to generate after-tax proceeds of $2 billion to $3 billion...
WASHINGTON-The National Telecommunications & Information Administration estimates that the liberalization of the global telecommunications marketplace has resulted in a $675 billion opportunity for carriers that want to pursue business overseas.While the World Trade Organization treaty has paved part of the way into what used...
WASHINGTON-No one was more surprised at the eventual outcome of the most recent Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction as was Thomas Jones, president of WNP Communications Inc., who walked away with the right to build in 30 of the top 50 markets.Auction 17, which...
The recent merger activity involving second-tier cellular companies has touched off speculation about which companies may be next to tie the knot.Alltel Corp. and 3600 Communications Co. last week announced they will merge in a transaction valued at more than $6 billion. Just a...
WASHINGTON-As the Justice Department broadens its antitrust probe of WorldCom Inc.'s proposed $37 billion purchase of MCI Communications Corp., Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition is using the mega-merger as a springboard to advocate increased diversification in the booming telecommunications industry.Last week, Jackson, Federal Communications...
WASHINGTON-Telefonica, WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. said they plan to partner in strategic business ventures to leverage the three companies' network and geographic strengths as they enter new telecommunications markets in Europe and the Americas.The agreement extends the terms of the Pan-American joint...
WASHINGTON-Spain's Telefonica has announced it will partner with United States-based WorldCom and MCI in a partnership for future business ventures in Europe and the Americas. This follows the collapse of Telefonica's planned relationship with British Telecommunications plc.The three companies said the new relationship builds...
