Baby Bells to sell Bellcore

NEW YORK Ameritech Corp. and the six other Baby Bell telephonecompanies are poised to sell their research cooperative Bellcore to adefense contractor for about $700 million.

The sale would end the joint arrangement that began a dozenyears ago with the breakup of the old AT&T empire.

The Wall Street Journal said the sale of Bellcore to ScienceApplications International Corp., an employee-owned defensecontractor based in San Diego, could be announced as early as thisweek.The deal is subject to approval by the boards of all seven phonecompanies, the newspaper said.Bellcore spokeswoman Barbara McClurken said today that "nodecision to sell the company has been made at this time.""Bellcore cannot comment on prospective buyers or about anyboard deliberations as this information is confidential," McClurkensaid.Science Applications International spokeswoman Jane Van Ryansaid the company does not discuss "reports regarding its businessplans or potential business opportunities."However, the company "is open to all business opportunitieswhich would be beneficial to our employee owners and the company,"Van Ryan said.Bellcore, which is formally named Bell Communications Research,has a staff of about 5,800 people and a stellar reputation incommunications network expertise. Its scientists pioneered fiberoptic technology, advise companies on how to recover from networkfailures and are expert in foiling computer viruses. It is based inMorristown, N.J.Bellcore is owned by Ameritech; Bell Atlantic Corp.,Philadelphia; BellSouth Corp., Atlanta; Nynex Corp., New York;Pacific Telesis Corp., San Francisco; SBC Communications Inc., SanAntonio, and US West Inc., Englewood, Colo.They decided in April, 1995, to find a buyer for the researchorganization, the Journal said. It said others making early andserious inquiries about buying the unit were International BusinessMachines Corp. and Electronic Data System Corp.Science Applications International employs about 22,000 peoplein 350 locations worldwide and generated about $2 billion in revenuelast year.Its main business is consulting and providing technical adviceto the government.The company owns Network Solutions Inc., a Herndon, Va., acompany hired by the National Science Foundation in 1993 to be theofficial registrar of Internet addresses.