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CNN Live At Daybreak

Mobile Phone Merger: Cingular Wins AT&T Wireless Bidding War

Aired February 17, 2004 - 06:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little "Business Buzz" now. A major deal could impact your monthly cell phone bill. We just told you about it.
Carrie Lee has more on that live from the Nasdaq market site.

Good morning -- Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Just to recap, Cingular Wireless will purchase AT&T Wireless in a bid worth about $41 billion. Things got a big heated over the weekend with Britain's Vodafone and Cingular each upping their offers. Cingular is the winner. Now the combined company would have 46 million in 49 states, would cover 97 of the nation's top 100 market. Cingular is a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth.

A lot of talk about what this is going to mean for consumers. It's certainly going to reshape the fiercely competitive $83 billion U.S. wireless industry. Industry executives are hoping that a combined company will mean more purchasing power for things like equipment. That could mean better coverage down the line. However, keep in mind there are six big wireless players right now. And this combined deal will mean there are five and that could mean that the heated price war we have seen lately could cool off a little bit. So potentially, Carol, we might not see the low prices as much as we do now.

Prices for the average cell phone call have come down 36 percent since 2001. Of course Cingular well known for those rollover minutes. It will be interesting to see what happens with that feature, but maybe a little too early to think about that.

COSTELLO: Maybe so.

Quick look at the futures.

LEE: Things look very strong this morning. You know Wall Street typically likes mergers. It means it's good for companies, so futures looking very strong this morning.

We're going to be watching shares of Walt Disney, which has rejected Comcast's hostile takeover offer. Remember this was announced last Wednesday. Disney shares up about 12 percent since then, Comcast's down about 12 percent since then, so we'll be watching those two names. But so far, things looking strong for stocks this Tuesday, of course the markets were closed yesterday for President's Day.

COSTELLO: All right. Carrie Lee, many thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





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Aired February 17, 2004 - 06:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little "Business Buzz" now. A major deal could impact your monthly cell phone bill. We just told you about it.
Carrie Lee has more on that live from the Nasdaq market site.

Good morning -- Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Just to recap, Cingular Wireless will purchase AT&T Wireless in a bid worth about $41 billion. Things got a big heated over the weekend with Britain's Vodafone and Cingular each upping their offers. Cingular is the winner. Now the combined company would have 46 million in 49 states, would cover 97 of the nation's top 100 market. Cingular is a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth.

A lot of talk about what this is going to mean for consumers. It's certainly going to reshape the fiercely competitive $83 billion U.S. wireless industry. Industry executives are hoping that a combined company will mean more purchasing power for things like equipment. That could mean better coverage down the line. However, keep in mind there are six big wireless players right now. And this combined deal will mean there are five and that could mean that the heated price war we have seen lately could cool off a little bit. So potentially, Carol, we might not see the low prices as much as we do now.

Prices for the average cell phone call have come down 36 percent since 2001. Of course Cingular well known for those rollover minutes. It will be interesting to see what happens with that feature, but maybe a little too early to think about that.

COSTELLO: Maybe so.

Quick look at the futures.

LEE: Things look very strong this morning. You know Wall Street typically likes mergers. It means it's good for companies, so futures looking very strong this morning.

We're going to be watching shares of Walt Disney, which has rejected Comcast's hostile takeover offer. Remember this was announced last Wednesday. Disney shares up about 12 percent since then, Comcast's down about 12 percent since then, so we'll be watching those two names. But so far, things looking strong for stocks this Tuesday, of course the markets were closed yesterday for President's Day.

COSTELLO: All right. Carrie Lee, many thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





War>