at&t-bst after-thoughts

Some other mega-merger thoughts:

• "AT&T’s purchase of BellSouth and Cingular means the loss of 10,000 jobs over the next three years, said CFO Rick Linder. Those cuts are in addition to the 13,000 jobs that will be phased out by 2008 from the SBC-AT&T merger."
• "Cingular Wireless LLC, a joint venture of AT&T and BellSouth, cut about 7,000 jobs after its $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless in October 2004," Forbes writes.
• Isen points out: "Don't be so sure the Duopoly will last! Here's one clue: the first draft of the Barton BITS Bill prohibited telcos from buying cablecos. The second draft didn't."
• Forbes: "The wireless operations will be the growth engine of the new company, and will account for one third of the combined revenue."
• This deal isn't about phones--it's about every other service that can be stuffed down a phone line. "This merger is about buying the lines that connect to the homes of BellSouth customers and selling them everything you can squeeze down a fiber-optic line, including television, Internet, movies and music." (It is mainly about Cingular, as cellular is the growth engine of the ILECs - just ask Sprint-Embarq, Alltel-Valor, and VZ-VZW)
• Banc of America Securities said Cablevision may be the biggest beneficiary of the AT&T deal. I say it is the lawyers and banks that win the biggest. (Consumers of course get to take another shot to the 5-hole).
• Some of the $2B in savings from the proposed acquisition would come from reduced advertising expenses and combining the backbone network and information-technology operations of the companies - as well as combining payments to lobbyists, lawyers and Congressmen.
• "The deal also makes it "highly unlikely" that AT&T would move to acquire EchoStar, the analyst said."