BellSouth pursuing No. 3 long-distance company, newspaper NEW YORK (CNNfn) - BellSouth Corp. is trying to buy Sprint Corp., the nation's No. 3 long-distance telephone company, but any deal is probably months away, the Washington Post reported Thursday. Quoting sources familiar with the talks, the newspaper also said that SBC Communications Inc., the biggest local phone company in the Midwest, Texas and California, is talking about acquiring WorldCom Inc., the No. 2 long-distance carrier. But the sources said there had been no talks between SBC and WorldCom in recent weeks, the newspaper said. The report said BellSouth is discussing a complex deal to buy Sprint along with its national wireless business, then sell its 40 percent stake in Cingular Wireless back to its joint-venture partner, SBC. No proposed prices were mentioned in the report. All three companies declined to comment, the newspaper said, noting a Sprint spokesman called the account "rumor and speculation." According to the newspaper's sources, SBC's conversations with WorldCom began earlier this year and have recently cooled, but both companies remain interested. At a conference in New York Wednesday, WorldCom Chief Executive Bernie Ebbers was asked if WorldCom has held merger talks with SBC. He replied, "We haven't had any discussions." SBC said Tuesday it has no current plans for acquisitions. The newspaper said falling stock prices have made some companies potentially more attractive, while the Bush administration is expected to be less likely than its predecessor to block mergers. Sprint (FON: Research, Estimates) stock jumped $1.08 to $21.64 in morning trading, a gain of 5 percent, WorldCom (WCOM: Research, Estimates) rose $1.06, or 6 percent, to $17.50 while BellSouth (BLS: Research, Estimates) fell 64 cents to $40.01. SBC (SBC: Research, Estimates) added 34 cents to $42.45.
Cingular Wireless Does anyone have there service? Do they do credit checks? How much deposit do they ask? Do they report to all 3 CRA's? TIA
My trouble w/ them I have Cingular wireless, but the contract is in my boyfriends name. THe reason is that they DO perform credit checks and I was told that for me to have my own account, I would have to put down an exorbitant down payment. The customer service I received was not that great. I had purchased a Motorola Star-Tac, and had problems with it from about 6 months after I bought it. The darn thing would turn itself off when I was trying to place a call. I had Cell One (at that time) send the phone to Motorola to see if they could fix it. I got the phone back from them and was told by Cell One that the phone had been refurbished. About 6 months later, I was having the same problem again. So, I called Motorola to see if they did anything to the phone and what the problem was. THEY DID NOTHING TO THE PHONE, and Cell one lied. I went about 3 weeks later to exchange phones. This is after I talked to cust. svc.a nd they told me no problem. Turns out, I had to BUY another phone and they told me that they could do nothing for my expenses. BTW, the star tac at original purchase was $150.00, and the phone that I just purchased was another $100.00. Hope this helps. Erica
Re: Cingular Wireless I have Cingular (formerly Bellsouth Mobility). I was "preapproved for the offer through Bellsouth local phone service. Two weeks AFTER I signed the contract for the cellphone, Bellsouth Mobility pulled my Equifax report. A month later they changed their name to Cingular. I did not put anything down and I paid about $10 for a Nokia 5160 cellphone. So far, so good re Cingular customer service. I upgraded my package and went from 250 minutes a month to 1400 minutes a month for $5.00 extra. The tech support is excellent. They went the extra mile for me in problems setting up my cellphone answering service to coincide with my home phone. I was impressed.
Re: Cingular Wireless I have Sprint PCS. They do complete a credit check. If a deposit is requested, it wil be $125. After about 6-10 months of service without paying late, your deposit will be refunded. You do have a $125 spending limit, but do you spend $125 per month in cellular service? With the plans they have, you shouldn't ever have to. BTW, they do not report to the bureaus. Hope this helps.
Re: Cingular Wireless Thanks all for the information. I am still doing research on the cell phone market and all this information is helping. I probably will sign up with Sprint before the merger if that does take place. I like the choices of phones a lot better. Thanks again.
