Feb 2, 2005 6:07 PM,

The 'S' word

By Vince Vittore

The echoes of Ed Whitacre and Dave Dorman were still in the air and already the buzzword of years past had made its reappearance--synergies.

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The euphemism--which in the real world means "early retirement inducements and/or pink slips are on the way,"--was dusted off by the CEOs of SBC and AT&T to describe why the merger of their two companies would be a net positive. Investors apparently bought the reasoning, which hadn't been used in such a big merger since the late 1990s, sending SBC shares up yesterday.

In any big merger there will be duplicate functions that can be trimmed (there's another nice-sounding word unless you're the one who ends up on the cutting room floor). But what will be truly interesting to watch as the guaranteed regulatory approval battle shapes up around this combination is the impact it has on Project Lightspeed, SBC's fiber-to-the-neighborhood initiative.

Again, the "S" word popped up when SBC COO Randall Stephenson opined on how AT&T's IP backbone would serve as the perfect complement to all that data and video being brought to consumers' front doors. In this case, though, it's a much more accurate usage that doesn't carry with it the baggage of careers cut short.

Indeed, the addition of AT&T's backbone may give SBC a new view of how to architect the video portion of its network. Like Verizon, which has territory spread out from Maine to Texas thanks to its GTE merger, SBC could opt for a national headend. Word from some vendors with knowledge of the situation says this is the current thinking. AT&T's backbone then could be used to transport video from that location to regional facilities where local content is mixed in.

There certainly will be significant bumps along the way and the regulatory approval process is sure to bring out some messy facts, like which executive are getting bonuses and how many "synergized" employees will be looking for new jobs. But when it comes to synergy, that is the type of combination that makes sense.

E-mail me at vvittore@primediabusiness.com.