Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994                   TAG: 9409230028
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

AT&T, MCCAW CLOSE $11.5 BILLION DEAL

The deal, the nation's largest merger between telecommunications companies, was completed just hours after the Federal Communications Commission approved it on Monday.

At a New York news conference Tuesday, executives of the companies said they hope to begin changing McCaw's 105 cellular phone systems to the AT&T brand name by next spring, a job expected to take 18 months.

To do that, the companies have agreed with the U.S. Justice Department to ensure their cellular customers will be able to easily choose any long distance phone service, not just AT&T's.

McCaw will be able to use the AT&T brand in its paging service immediately.

``We're anxious to get started and you'll see us come out of the chute running,'' said AT&T Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Allen.

AT&T said it would rename McCaw as AT&T Wireless Services.

McCaw holds more than 400 communications licenses covering cellular, paging and TV stations and microwave systems used for the delivery of voice, data and video signals.

The purchase, announced in August 1993, was subsequently described as having a value of $12.6 billion. On Tuesday, the companies said it is worth $11.5 billion, based on AT&T's recent stock price.

The deal's final obstacle was surmounted Monday when the FCC approved transferring dozens of cellular licenses held by McCaw, the country's largest cellular phone operator, to AT&T.

FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said the merger will ``increase competition for cellular services ... benefiting consumers and growing the economy.''

The FCC imposed requirements to ensure that the companies act competitively. Those safeguards mostly revolve around sale of AT&T equipment to competitors. AT&T is a leading supplier of cellular phone equipment.

Jim Young, vice president and general counsel of Bell Atlantic, called the merger ``anti-consumer'' and ``anti-competitive.''

Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex are fighting the merger in a federal court in New York. A trial is scheduled Nov. 1. A ruling against AT&T could force the company to divest all or part of its holdings in McCaw.