Conflicting signals on telco supply for 2002

INVESTORS WILL BE HOPING THAT the record levels of telecom bond issuance seen in the first quarter of 2001 – including France Télécom’s $16.4 billion and British Telecom’s e9.75 billion transactions – will seem like a distant memory next year. But estimates of the amount of supply vary. Peter Plaut, head of research at Bank of America, says that the number and size of issues will undergo a dramatic drop. “We’ve seen e75 billion in 2001 – we’ll see half of that next year.”

Another analyst goes