VOA慢速英语20060310a

ECONOMICS REPORT - AT&T to Buy BellSouth in Big Telecom-Industry DealBy Brianna Blake

Broadcast: Friday, March 10, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

A proposed deal announced this week could change the future of the telecommunications industry in the United States. It would make the biggest telephone company in America, AT&T, even bigger. AT&T plans to buy BellSouth, a major provider of local telephone service.


AT&T is to buy BellSouth

AT&T has offered to buy BellSouth for about sixty-seven thousand million dollars in stock. The combined company would have more than one hundred twenty thousand million dollars in yearly earnings¹.

The company formerly² known as American Telephone and Telegraph controlled the United States market for phone service. That changed in nineteen eighty-four. A judge ordered AT&T to divide itself into competing businesses.

It was broken up to form seven companies to supply local telephone service in different areas of the country. An eighth part became a long-distance carrier. It kept the name AT&T.

Now AT&T plans to buy back one of its former pieces 鈥?BellSouth of Alabama. Directors of both companies have approved the merger³ deal. It must still be approved by shareholders⁴ of both companies and by federal officials.

AT&T plans to cut about ten thousand jobs after the deal is closed.

Some experts believe the government might be willing to approve the merger. The reason is that the telecommunications business has changed a lot in recent years. Now millions of people have wireless⁵ phone service and the Internet. And they have more choices. For example, some people buy telephone service from their cable television provider.

BellSouth's president says the merger will probably take about a year to complete. He says it will mean new services and more competition.

Some public interest groups are not so sure, though. They worry about higher prices if AT&T is permitted to grow again. But some experts say it might lead competitors to join forces to be in a better position to compete.

And now, to follow up a recent story:

Research in Motion has settled the dispute over the ownership of technologies for its BlackBerry wireless e-mail devices. The Canadian company announced the deal last Friday. That avoided a possible court order to shut down the popular service. Research in Motion agreed to pay NTP, a patent-holding company in Virginia, more than six hundred million dollars.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Brianna Blake. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

3 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

4 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。