Sprint, Nevada Bell, called merger targets

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

BellSouth Corp., which sells local phone service in the southeastern United States, is in talks to buy Sprint Corp., the No. 3 U.S. long-distance company, the Washington Post reported, citing unidentified sources.

Sprint is the dominant local phone company in the Las Vegas area. A Sprint spokeswoman in Las Vegas said today the company has just over 1 million phone lines installed in Southern Nevada.

The Washington Post also said SBC Communications Inc. has held talks to buy WorldCom Inc., the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone carrier, because it's interested in the Clinton, Miss.-based company's global Internet network. It cited unidentified sources.

The companies may believe they have a better chance of winning regulatory approval for transactions with the new Republican administration, which is considered less hostile to mergers than the previous Clinton presidency, the report said. Mergers between local and long-distance phone companies are unlikely until local carriers have permission to sell long-distance service or transmit data in more states, analysts have said.

Earlier this week, San Antonio-based SBC -- owner of Nevada Bell and Cingular Wireless operations in Nevada -- said it isn't planning to make an acquisition.

"I can't remember the last time we had a senior-management meeting on an acquisition," Chief Executive Edward Whitacre said Tuesday at the Merrill Lynch Global Communications Investor Conference in New York. "We're focused on execution at SBC."

Officials at SBC and WorldCom weren't available to comment. "We don't comment on rumors and speculation," said BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher. Sprint spokesman Mark Bonavia also declined to comment.

Shares of Atlanta-based BellSouth, which had fallen 9.7 percent in the past year, dropped 55 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $40.10 in early trading today. Sprint, based near Kansas City in Westwood, Kan., rose $1.07, or 5.2 percent, to $21.63. It was down 64 percent in the past year.

SBC rose 34 cents to $42.45. It is almost unchanged in the past year. WorldCom shares rose $1.06 to $17.50. They had declined 62 percent in the past year.

BellSouth offered more than $100 billion for Sprint 17 months ago, the Post said. That was topped by WorldCom's $129 billion bid, which regulators blocked, the report said.

BellSouth would acquire Sprint's long-distance and wireless businesses, then sell its own 40 percent stake in mobile-phone venture Cingular to partner SBC, the No. 2 U.S. local-telephone company, the sources told the Post.

SBC sells long-distance service in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. is the No. 1 U.S. local-phone company. New York-based AT&T Corp. is the biggest U.S. long-distance company.