AT&T in $150m US expansion

AT&T in $150m US expansion

AT&T, the US long-distance phone company which announced an alliance with British Telecom earlier this year, has agreed a $150m (pounds 88m) deal to buy Vanguard Cellular Systems to expand its wireless telephone business on the US East Coast.

Vanguard, which operates under the Cellular One brand name, has 625,000 customers. AT&T will pay $900m in cash and stock and assume $600m in debt. The companies expect the deal to be closed in the first quarter of 1999.