IN BRIEF

EBay to drop proposed privacy change

Bowing to protests, online auctioneer eBay said it will drop a proposed privacy policy change that privacy advocates claimed would weaken the rights of eBay users. The San Jose-based company had proposed an amendment that essentially would have repudiated privacy policy summaries in various sections of its website, forcing users to rely instead on the company’s main privacy policy.

The new privacy policy changes will be posted on the website by Wednesday, Pursglove said. They will be effective immediately for new users and on April 19 for current registered users, he said.

Qwest continues trimming debt

Qwest Communications International has repurchased more than $97 million worth of bonds in exchange for issuing 9.9 million shares of stock, part of a plan to trim debt, company officials said. Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio also said the company hopes to file its first application for re-entry into the long-distance market in the West in late April or early May.

Last week, Qwest announced it had repaid $608 million of its $4 billion unsecured bank credit and amended its bank loan agreement. The company is also looking at selling some of its assets, such as rural access lines, to strengthen its balance sheet, and then paying down the bank loan to $2 billion, chief financial officer Robin Szeliga said.

Nokia to expand VoiceStream network

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, will expand a digital network for US-based VoiceStream Wireless in a deal worth $300 million. The three-year agreement includes expanding VoiceStream’s national GSM network and providing networks in new markets, including Ohio and Arkansas, Nokia said. Deliveries will begin immediately.

Nokia began co-operation with VoiceStream in 1995 when it supplied the American operator with a network using GSM, or Global System for Mobile communications, a cell phone standard widely used outside the United States.

Two years ago, the Finnish company signed a $500 million deal with VoiceStream to expand the GSM network.

Alltel, CenturyTel in $1.6 billion deal

Alltel, which was spurned last year in an attempt to take over rural telephone rival CenturyTel, agreed to buy CenturyTel’s cellular business for $1.65 billion in cash. The deal involves more than 700,000 customers and will allow Little Rock, Arkansas-based Alltel to expand into new markets in Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and Wisconsin, Alltel said.

After the deal is completed, Alltel will have 7.4 million wireless customers in 24 states. Alltel officials said there is no overlap between Alltel’s current celluar business and that of CenturyTel. Alltel also is acquiring cellular licenses in Wisconsin and Iowa that cover 1.3 million potential customers.

Cingular to invest $700 million in South

Cingular Wireless, the second-largest US wireless operator, said it will invest more than $700 million this year in its network for the Gulf states region of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to enhance call quality and network coverage. The company said it plans to deploy more than 100,000 more digital voice paths on existing cell towers in the Gulf states region, bringing the total in that region to over 350,000.

Cingular also said it will deploy 400 more cell sites in the four-state region over the next year. Of these, nearly 70 percent will be located with other wireless carriers on existing tower sites.