AT&T's [T] reported talks with BellSouth [BLS] and other Bell companies about the possible sale of its struggling consumer and business telephone operations could be a ploy by the company to get a better deal for its broadband unit from cable giant Comcast [CMCSK], analysts said Friday.

"[AT&T CEO] Michael Armstrong is doing a masterful job of playing poker here," said Bob Olson, a network services analyst with InfoTech, a research unit of Communications Today publisher PBI Media. "First, he is using BellSouth to get a higher bid from Comcast. Once he has that money in the bank, then he can use that as leverage to get a better deal from BellSouth."

Olson said he doesn't think Armstrong's strategy to get a better offer from Comcast will work.

"Because of the Sept. 11 tragedy and the recession atmosphere, I don't think Comcast can get its bank facilities to up the ante," Olson said. "I think if we were in a different economic cycle, [Comcast] would have one more bid above $58 billion. Now, I think, even though they might want to, they won't be able to."

AT&T has been publicly exploring options for its cable TV unit and reportedly could sign a confidentiality agreement with Comcast as early as today that would allow the cable company to review AT&T Broadband's books.

Attempts to reach AT&T, Comcast and BellSouth officials Friday were unsuccessful.

Comcast's July offer for the broadband unit was then valued at $45 billion in stock plus $13 billion in assumed debt. Based on current stock prices, the deal is worth now about $34 billion.

Analysts said any deal by AT&T to sell its consumer and business telephone operations to a Bell company would be a surprise and would meet a heavy amount of federal scrutiny. The Bell companies could be interested in AT&T primarily for its business customers and its national and international network, they said. AT&T's telephone business could fetch $30 billion or more, analyst estimated.

"I'm a little surprised that this discussion is taking place at this point in time," Dan McBride, a senior analyst with Detroit-based H&R Block Financial Advisors, told Communications Today. "The regulatory barriers [for such a deal] are much higher now than they would be in a year or two."

--Rodney L. Pringle, rpringle@pbimedia.com >TK AT&T's [T]: WorldCom's [WCOM]: MCI Group [MCIT]: Sprint [FON]: Verizon Communications [VZ]:

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