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EXHIBIT 99A
U S WEST, Inc.
7800 East Orchard Road
Englewood, Colorado 80111
303 793-6500
Contact: Blair Johnson, 303-793-6296
Release Date: January 18, 1995
U S WEST REPORTS INCREASED 1994 EARNINGS AND REVENUE,
RECORD GROWTH IN TELEPHONE LINES, CELLULAR SUBSCRIBERS
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- U S WEST (NYSE: USW) today reported increased
1994 revenue and earnings and record growth in telephone access
lines and cellular subscribers.
1994 results include the following:
- Revenue of $10.95 billion, an increase of
$659 million, or 6.4 percent, compared with $10.29 billion
in 1993.
- Net income of $1.43 billion, or $3.14 per share.
These figures include one-time gains of $197 million from the sale
of certain assets. Excluding one-time items, 1994 net income was
$1.23 billion, up 7.8 percent from $1.14 billion in 1993 on a
comparable basis.*
- Earnings per share of $2.71, excluding one-time items,
compared with earnings per share of $2.72 in 1993 on the same
basis.* The 1994 earnings per share reflects an increase in
average outstanding shares of 34 million.
- EBITDA - Strong volume growth resulted in a 7.8 percent
increase in the company's earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA.
"I'm pleased with our 1994 financial results, especially the solid
revenue and earnings growth in our 14-state telecommunications
business," said Richard McCormick, U S WEST chairman and CEO.
"And I'm encouraged that our concerted efforts to correct last
summer's service-installation delays are paying off," McCormick
said. "We're continuing to streamline that critical part of our
business so customers can get what they want, when they want it --
with a single phone call.
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"We're also seeing strong customer and sales growth in our
developing operations around the world," McCormick said. "These
new businesses are creating shareowner value too. The successful
equity offering at TeleWest, our cable-telephone business in the
U.K., valued our share of the venture at $1.1 billion -- almost
three times our investment."
1994 was a successful year strategically as well.
"We took several steps to continue preparing U S WEST to compete in
a new environment," McCormick said. "To reach more customers, we
formed a partnership with AirTouch and alliances with Bell Atlantic
and NYNEX to offer new wireless phone services; bought major
cable-TV systems in Atlanta; and began testing two-way, multimedia
services in Omaha."
Core Telecommunications Business
U S WEST Communications (USWC), the company's core telecommuni-
cations business, reported strong 1994 earnings growth:
- Net income for USWC in 1994 was $1.12 billion, up
9.9 percent from the $1.02 billion last year -- excluding one-time
items.**
- Revenue reached $9.0 billion, a 4.0-percent increase from
$8.66 billion in 1993.
- Access lines - The number of telephone access lines USWC
served in 1994 increased by a record 553,000, or 4.0 percent, from
1993 -- excluding the effects of the sale of 60,000 lines in rural
telephone exchanges. Minutes of use, an indicator of long-distance
calling volumes, grew by 8.6 percent in the same period.
Developing Businesses
U S WEST's developing businesses, including its investments in
domestic and international wired and wireless networks, and its
other international ventures, also showed progress.
In wireless communications markets, U S WEST increased its combined
domestic and international customer base -- for all ventures -- by
about 600,000 to more than 1.3 million customers.
- Domestically, U S WEST Cellular added a record 367,000
subscribers, a 61-percent increase from the 601,000 at the end of
1993, for a total customer base of 968,000.
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- By merging its domestic cellular assets with AirTouch
Communications and forming operating alliances with Bell Atlantic
and NYNEX, U S WEST will participate in a business serving an area
with a population of 100 million.
- Subscribers to U S WEST's international wireless joint
ventures increased in 1994 to 367,000 -- almost three times the
customer base of a year ago. U S WEST operates wireless joint
ventures in the United Kingdom, Hungary, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia and Russia and plans to offer digital cellular service
in Malaysia in 1995.
- Mercury One-2-One, a mobile telephone joint venture with
Cable & Wireless in the U.K., continues to exceed customer growth
expectations. Since expanding coverage to the West Midlands region
in October, One-2-One service reaches 30 percent of the U.K.
population, including Birmingham, the country's second largest city.
In cable television markets, U S WEST increased its combined
domestic and international customer base -- for all ventures --
by about 830,000 to roughly 9 million customers.
- Domestically, U S WEST added 486,000 customers by
acquiring two Atlanta-area cable-TV systems in 1994. Including
U S WEST's alliance with Time Warner Entertainment, the Atlanta
properties expanded the reach of U S WEST and its partners to about
8 million domestic subscribers.
- In 1994, TeleWest Communications, a combined
cable-television and telephone venture in the U.K. with
Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), increased its base of cable-TV
subscribers -- for all ventures -- by nearly 42 percent, to 320,000.
In the same period, TeleWest increased the number of telephone
lines it serves by almost 94 percent, to 271,000.
Fourth-quarter 1994 results:
- Revenue was $2.84 billion -- up 6.5 percent from the same
period in 1993.
- Net income was $409 million, or $0.89 per share.
Excluding one-time items, 1994 fourth-quarter net income was
$284 million, up 7.6 percent compared with $264 million in 1993.
Fourth-quarter 1994 earnings per share, excluding one-time items,
were $0.62, the same as in 1993.***
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U S WEST is in the connections business, helping customers share
information, entertainment and communications services in local
markets worldwide.
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Footnotes
* One-time items in 1994 include the following gains:
$41 million, or $.09 per share, from the sale of U S WEST's paging
operations; $51 million, or $.11 per share, from the sale of certain
rural telephone exchanges; and $105 million, or $.23 per share, from
an initial public offering by TeleWest Communications, a cable-TV
and telephone joint venture with Tele-Communications, Inc., in the
United Kingdom.
One-time items in 1993 include:
1) An extraordinary charge totaling $3.12 billion, or $7.45
per share, for a technical accounting change -- from rules designed
for regulated utilities to those designed for competitive companies;
2) An extraordinary charge of $77 million, or $.18 per
share, for the early extinguishment of debt at U S WEST
Communications;
3) A charge of $82 million, or $.19 per share, related to
discontinued operations;
4) A restructuring charge of $610 million, or $1.46 per
share; and
5) An income tax rate change of $54 million, or $.13 per
share.
These one-time charges resulted in a 1993 reported net loss of
$2.81 billion, or $6.69 per share.
** In addition to charges related to the technical accounting change
(for $3.04 billion at USWC), early extinguishment of debt and the
income tax rate change, USWC recorded an after-tax restructuring
charge in 1993 of $534 million.
*** One-time items in fourth-quarter 1994 include gains of:
$105 million, or $.23 per share, from the partial sale of TeleWest;
and $20 million, or $.04 per share, for the sale of certain rural
telephone exchanges.
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