AT&T's worldwide reshuffle sees SAR division up for sale
AT&T, the biggest telephone operator in the United States, is to sell its Hong Kong Internet division as part of its global reorganisation.
The company is in negotiations with interested buyers for the business, according to an AT&T spokesman.
She declined to name the potential buyers nor reveal the number of subscribers for AT&T's Online Services in Hong Kong.
Industry figures indicate that the division is not among the SAR's top five Internet service providers.
New World CyberBase, the technology arm of the New World group, said it planned to launch an Internet service but denied it was in talks to buy the AT&T arm.
'New World CyberBase is in the planning stage to have its own infrastructure to provide an Internet service provider,' a company spokesman said. 'So we are not planning to buy AT&T's Internet services.' AT&T is selling its Online Services unit - which offers dial-up Internet access for homes and businesses - to focus on multinationals.
Last year, AT&T joined with British Telecom to build Concert, a transcontinental network for high-speed voice and data traffic that will link key cities worldwide.
Concert will compete for multinational customers with global carriers such as MCI WorldCom and Global One.
'We are reorganising our business, not just in Hong Kong but worldwide, because of Concert and the new AT&T business,' the spokesman said.
AT&T is realigning its business units to target large corporations and multinationals by offering facilities such as Internet, data and managed services.
