AT&T Corp says it is looking at selling off it messaging business. AT&T has an aggressive effort underway to ensure that our portfolio only includes businesses that are central to our strategy, said AT&T spokeswoman Ruth Newell adding that AT&T is currently exploring options regarding the messaging business, which could result in a decision to sell the unit. AT&T took over the business when it bought McCaw Cellular Communications Corp back in 1994. The unit operates mainly in the West Coast covering 24 cities in a number of states including Washington, California and Alaska. AT&T would not say how much it has since invested in the business which has around 1.3 million customers. According to the company, its AT&T Wireless Services Messaging is the 10th largest paging company in the US. The move would follow a number of similar divestments over the past year. The latest of which are the AT&T Universal Card Services and AT&T Solutions Customer Care units which, last month, the company announced it wanted to sell. Analysts said the unit could fetch $400m to $450m with Paging Network Inc and Metrocall Inc seen as likely buyers. AT&T is likely to continue offering paging services following the possible sale by reselling service from other companies, as many of its competitors already do.
