T
hree weeks ago, AT & T Corp. handed its critics on Wall Street what they
wanted: a corporate restructuring
plan that included the spin-off of the company's AT & T
Wireless Services and AT & T Broadband units. Last week, AT & T Broadband CEO Dan
Somers talked with
Multichannel News
editor at large Matt Stump about the future of bundling, Excite@Home Corp.'s role inside the MSO and its agenda in the year ahead. Somers believes a strong focus on execution will deliver the bottom-line results the financial community is pining for. An
edited transcript follows:
MCN: There was a lot of talk after the AT & T breakup announcement that the broadband division would be better off with the ability to be mor
e focused and
execute its mandate without being tied to a corporate parent that at times m
ay have different agendas for different divisions. Do you feel that way?
Somers:
Our strategic
direction that we've been on has been endorsed, supported and applauded by AT & T and that's not going to change with the announcement of two weeks ago. It wasn't intended to change our strategy or our direction. It was intended to allow us to be independent
vis a vis
the ability to access capital markets, to stand alone and have our results measured against our peers rather than be part of a measurement of a company overall, and to provide an opportunity for our employees, much like Wireless'employees, to that have their fortunes
directly related to their own activities.
Whether we're part of AT & T or we're AT & T Broadband
independently, we're going to continue to aggressively pursue the rollout of our telephony business.
MCN: And you're going to continue to be aggressive in bundling digital video, voice and data?
Somers:
Absolutely correct.
