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Oct. 1, 2007

AT&T wants to expand its international presence and the company is looking for some overseas acquisitions.

Among some of its expansion plans, India is reportedly at the top of the list.

AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson says the most valuable growth opportunities for the company are outside of the U.S.

"AT&T has recently completed several mergers and acquisitions within the United States, and overseas acquisitions makes sense going forward, said Stephenson."

However, Stephenson was quick to point out that he isn't looking for going into just any overseas market for the sake of expanding.

He's been looking into emerging markets where demand for wireless service is high and market saturation is low.

Overall, Stephenson added that "AT&T is focusing on India, where it has already been lobbying regulators to allow the company to bid on 3G spectrum."

AT&T's wireless division is also looking into deals in China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar.

Stephenson also said he's not just looking for investments overseas, but actually wants to run companies that service customers abroad.

Meanwhile, overseas strategies for U.S. telecoms have varied in the past, and AT&T's new plan will face some challenges, as evidenced earlier in 2007 when the company tried to acquire a stake in the holding company for Telecom Italia.

However, Stephenson said he's committed to the plan and AT&T is already making inroads, like its partnership with local Indian carrier, Telecom Mahindra, which has already allowed the carrier to pick up local multinational companies as new customers in India.

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Source: Wireless Week