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Bellcore Sale
From: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 00:12:06 -0400
As we continue to erode our research base.... This was just posted on the AP newswire: End of an Era: Bells Set to Sell Research Facility By JEANNINE AVERSA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - In a sign of their differing goals, the nation's seven regional Bell companies are planning to sell their long-coveted Bellcore research facility. A vote to sell the Livingston, N.J.-based consortium, Bell Communications Research Co., is expected within days, a Bell company executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday. ``The regional Bell companies' rapid divergence of their business directions causes significant diversity in the nature of the services they require,'' according to a Bellcore document discussing the sale. ``Not all want or need the same degree and type of common services. Consequently, common ownership of a research and engineering facility tends to increasingly restrict each owner, and Bellcore as well,'' said the document, which was obtained by The Associated Press. Bell company executives discussed the sale in a conference call Wednesday night, but didn't reach a final decision, officials of the Bell companies said. One of the executives confirmed that Bellcore would be sold and that the key question was how the sale would be accomplished. When Bellcore was created after AT&T's breakup in 1984, the Bell companies had common goals and virtually identical operations. But their businesses' prospects and the telecommunications industry are both vastly different today. As they fight to get into the long-distance and cable television businesses, the Baby Bells face a future where they will be competing against each other for the first time. The Bell companies have been considering selling the facility, which employs 6,400 people and has a budget of roughly $1.02 billion, since last fall. Options for selling the facility include selling stock to the public or institutional investors or selling to a group of companies, the officials said. The nation's largest consortium provider of communications software, services and research, Bellcore had a major role in the development of key communications technologies. They include ISDN, which permits voice, video and data to be carried simultaneously, sophisticated transmission equipment called SONET and switching equipment known as ATM. Bellcore holds 520 U.S. patents and 150 international ones. By being severed from its current owners, Bellcore would be freed from some legal restrictions. This freedom would permit Bellcore to provide broader, more tailored and timely support to customers, which currently include AT&T, Bell Canada and GTE, the officials said. Bellcore is currently barred from providing long-distance telecommunications services and from manufacturing telecommunications equipment.
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- Bellcore Sale Dave Farber (Apr 06)