Merger pressure rises after AT&T deal

[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Paul Taylor, Aline van Duyn and James Politi]
The $67 billion merger of AT&T and BellSouth to create the world’s largest telecoms company on Monday increased the pressure on rivals including Verizon Communications to join an industry-wide consolidation. “Verizon may be pressured more to improve its business mix by becoming increasingly focused on its attempt to buy out the remaining 45 per cent of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone,” said Jason Armstrong of Goldman Sachs in a note to investors. Verizon acknowledged that getting control of the Vodafone stake – a deal that could be worth up to $50bn – was a priority. It was “working to acquire from Vodafone the remaining 45 percent of Verizon Wireless”.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/5aa219c8-ad3d-11da-9643-0000779e2340.html
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Qwest may get a buyout nibble
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Edward Iwata and Paul Davidson]
For months, Qwest has been considered anything but a prized acquisition target — mostly because of its heavy debt and its lack of the large-scale wireless and high-speed Internet assets that are the communications industry's engines for growth in coming years. That view might be changing in the wake of AT&T's proposed $67 billion purchase of BellSouth. Qwest — as well as Alltel and Sprint Nextel — could become an acquisition target, as Verizon scrambles to keep pace with AT&T, predicts analyst Ken McGee at technology consultant Gartner. A combined AT&T and BellSouth would knock Verizon from its No. 1 perch in the industry and put it at a disadvantage in both the wireless and large-business markets, possibly forcing it to respond, says Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King. McGee predicts that Qwest will garner Verizon's interest as merger bait. “They're unlikely to remain an orphan,” he says, noting that Qwest CEO Richard Notebaert has kept Qwest from a bankruptcy reorganization and appears to be slowly turning it around. “Qwest must feel awfully lonely sitting there, watching everyone else dance.”
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060307/qwest07.art.htm

See also --
* Telecom Marriage Could Spur Others
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Dawn C. Chmielewski]
Options for Verizon: 1) Buy Alltel Corp., a regional wireless carrier with 11 million subscribers. 2) Acquire the 45% of Verizon Wireless now owned by Britain's Vodafone Group. 3) Purchase Qwest.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-phones7mar07,1,707024...
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