Mar. 06, 2006 - 19:30 MST

URGE TO MERGE

Seems as if the communications industry is copying the Bonobo Monkeys in a way.

They seem to buy and sell each other, but like magnets do seem to come up in a bigger pile each time.

The article in this morning's Rocky Mountain News by Harry R. Weber of the Associated Press leaves me a bit bewildered, but that seems to be the name of the game any more.

So, for what it is worth, here is is the article quoted in full:

AT&T TO BUY BELLSOUTH

Proposal is subject to OK by regulators and shareholders

ATLANTA -- "AT&T Inc. is buying Bell South Corp. for $67 billion in stock in a bid that further consolidates the telecommuication industry and would give AT&T total control of their growing joint venture, Cingular Wireless LLC."

" The proposed purchase, announced Sunday, also goes a long way toward resurrecting the old Ma Bell telephone system, which was broken apart in 1984."

"The merged company would have 70 million local-line phone subscribers and nearly 10 million broadband subscribers in thhe 22 states where they now operate. The deal apperars to be the largest yet among U.S. telecom players."

"In 1999 MCI WorldCom Inc. agreed to buy Sprint Corp. for an even larger sum, $115 billion, but that deal was blocked by federal regulators. Internationally, Britain's Vodaphone Airtouch PLC paid $180 billion in stock for Mannesmann AG of Germany in 2000."

"The sale, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, would give San Antonio based AT&T total control over the Atlanta based Bellsouth's nine-state network and its share of Cingular. AT&T currently owns a 60 percent share of the nation's No. 1 cell phone provider, while Bellsouth has 40 percent."

"The deal would substantially expand the reach of AT&T, already the country's largest telecommunications company by the number of customers served."

"Together, the three companies employ more than 316,000 people, though that head count may fall as AT&T eliminates redundant operations."

"After spending millions of dollars to rebrand AT&T Wireless Services Inc. stores as Cingular stores and hundreds of millions of dollars more on marketing the new Cingular after its $41 blllion acquisition of AT&T Wireless in October 2004, Cingular will now become AT&T if the merger with Bellsouth is completed."

"The Bellsouth name also would be absorbed in the deal."

"It's going to be confusing," said industry analyst Jeff Kagan. "This is the reinvention of the telecommunications industry." AT&T will pay 1,325 of its own shares for each Bellsouth share."

"Based on Friday's closing price of $27.99 for AT&T shares, that works out to be $37.09 for each Bellsouth share, an 18 percent premium from the Friday closing price of $31.48 for the company."

"AT&TInc. was formed by SBC's acquisition of AT&T Corp. in November. The deal added a substantial national reach to the former Southwestern Bell's local business, which is concentrated in 13 states, including Texas, California and the Midwest."

"Bellsouth is the dominant local telephone provider in the Southeast."

"

"The shift in the U.S. telcom landscape -- moving from four to three regional Bell operators -- is sure to garner close review from Washington."

"Twenty years after the government broke up Ma bell, this deal represents a mother and child reunion," said Rep. Ed Markey, the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet."

"Our nation's telecommunications markets must be vigorously competitive and open to innovation in order to promopte job creation and economic growth," Markey said. "This merger proposal is one that unquestionably merits the utmost scrutiny by government antitrust officials."

"Cingular spokesman Mark Siegel dismissed the notion there would be public perception issues with the switch back to the AT&T name for the wireless company."

"We built a buisness," Siegel said. "Is the brand an important part of that business ? Yes. But it is a business that is made primarily up of people. None of that changes."

"Siegel said sole ownerrship by AT&T "gives us clarity of decision making and that is a good thing."

"With cable companies increasingly vying for traditional phone companies' share of local telephone service, such mergers in the industry have been commonplace of late. Kagan the industry analyst, said more could be on the horizon."

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In 1977 I went to work for Western Electric -- a part of the Bell System. Before I retired in 1990 that plant's name had been changed a time or two. After I took early retirement, what was left sold itself off to various companies. I wonder if Bell Labs is still a part of AT&T, it was Bell Labs personnel who came up with the transistor.

The older I get the faster time passes, but this is ridiculous. Like the Bonobos, it seems to me that corporations have the URGE TO MERGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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