People vastly underestimate that the deal is not happening because of the regulatory rhetoric they are hearing. People will be surprised at how easy it will be.

The company is spending more up front than we thought to pay for the TCI purchase.

Bell Atlantic is definitely not cooperating (with MCI) out of charity, ... but to satisfy the regulatory process.

Now they're being ... associated with the 'old economy' aspect of their business -- a unionized work force.

The long-distance thing is boosting the whole sector. It's a group-wide phenomenon.

He's got to focus on integrating the business units of AT&T, on integrating the services so you can go to a consumer and say, 'We're not just your long-distance service. We want to be your Internet provider, your satellite services and, eventually, your local service,' ... The magic of the bundle is what every phone company is going after.

It has been more stable than most stocks out there, but in the telecom environment -- as it develops with rapidly increasing regulatory and rapidly increasing technology changes -- AT&T will definitely be less stable than it's been.

The telecom market overall has been strong and a lot of the traditional carriers have been showing solid growth, ... We think that will continue.

[Some analysts doubt that the deal will face any real hurdles before it is finalized.] People vastly underestimate that the deal is not happening because of the regulatory rhetoric they are hearing, ... People will be surprised at how easy it will be.