HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--In the latest update of Enron Corp.'s (ENE, news, msgs) 
bandwidth trading activities, the company's chairman said Tuesday that it has 
completed about 90 trades of telecommunications bandwidth. 
	Speaking at the Dain Rauscher Energy 2000 Conference, Enron Chairman Ken Lay 
talked about the current status and futures plans the company has for 
bandwidth trading and broadband services. 
	Asked what kind of company Enron is, Lay gave an answer that shows the recent 
expansion of the company's business strategy beyond energy. Enron is still 
basically "an energy and broadband company," he said. 
	While energy is still the source of most of Enron's revenue, Lay's answer 
underlines the growth potential it sees in broadband services and bandwidth 
trading. A number of Enron officials have been quoted in the last year as 
saying that, in a few years, it could be making as much money from those 
areas as it now makes from its lucrative natural gas and power businesses. 
	Enron plans to spend $600 million-$650 million this year and about the same 
amount over the next two to three years on broadband and bandwidth trading, 
Lay said. It will spend more during that time if necessary. 
	In fact, the company is planning to sell energy assets around the world in 
emerging markets that aren't growing quickly enough to meet Enron's 
standards. Proceeds will be deployed into businesses like broadband and 
bandwidth trading, which are growing more quickly, he said. 
	In pioneering bandwidth trading as a commodity, Enron's 90 bandwidth deals 
put it far ahead of competitors in that nascent market area. El Paso Energy 
Corp. (EPG, news, msgs) officials have said they have done 5-10 bandwidth 
trades this year. Companies like Williams Communications Group (WCG, news, 
msgs) won't talk about the number of bandwidth trades they have made. 
	Bandwidth is the capacity to move data between two points on a 
telecommunications network. 
	Enron will finish deploying its domestic telecommunications network by the 
end of this year, Lay said. Some of the fiber-optic network will be lit, or 
made operational, this year with the rest to be lit later. 
	The company has four bandwidth trading pooling points completed in New York, 
Los Angeles, Las Vegas and London. Enron's current plans call for a total of 
13 pooling points. 
	Bandwidth trading pooling points are facilities where telecom carriers can 
connect to each other to allow data to flow from one carrier to another, 
facilitating bandwidth trading. 
	Enron plans to begin delivering movies to home via broadband connections in 
December as part of its deal with Blockbuster Video and a number of telecom 
carriers. 
	The deal is a 20-year exclusive, worldwide deal with a potential contract 
value of more than $1 billion to Enron, according to materials the company 
handed out at the conference. 
	By Michael Rieke, Dow Jones Newswires, 713-547-9207, michael.rieke@wsj.com 
	Quote for referenced ticker symbols: ENE, EPG, WCG, WMB
	
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