AT&T gets a negative charge from Excite

(Telephony) AT&T announced that it will take a charge of between $740 million and $780 million due to troubles at high-speed Internet access provider Excite@Home, of which AT&T owns 23%.

The charge, which will show up in the company’s first quarter results, will have a net income impact in the range of $280 million to $320 million and will reduce AT&T’s book value of Excite@home to between $450 and $490 million.

The announcement comes just days after Excite@Home lowered its revenue guidance for the first quarter to between $140 million and $145 million and indicated that it will post a loss per share of 14 cents to 15 cents due to a weakening advertising environment that is negatively affecting the company’s narrowband media business.

The company also said it has signed a non-binding letter of agreement with AT&T, under which Excite@Home would receive between $75 million and $80 million to restructure the backbone fiber agreement between the two companies.

In other AT&T news, Concert, the AT&T/BT joint venture offering communications services to large multinational corporations, has instituted a semi-hiring freeze.

“We’re hiring for critical posts,” said a Concert spokeswoman, “but at the moment we’re not actively hiring.” The move, she said is part of an effort to reduce costs for the venture, which has not lived up to its initial revenue expectations and is the subject of regular speculation and discussion regarding its future.