DIGITAL CABLE TV Charter Getting Boost From High-Speed Services.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: Reinhardt Krause

Unlike a lot of Paul Allen's dot-com investments, vultures aren't circling over cable TV firm Charter Communications Inc.

The fourth-largest cable system operator looks primed for a rebound, analysts say.

Allen, the multibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp., built up Charter with an acquisition spree that began in 1997. He'll take another step when Charter buys a few cable systems from AT&T Corp. That $1.75 billion deal is expected to close this month.

St. Louis-based Charter has eased investor concern over its $13.7 billion debt. It's done that by rolling out new digital and data services successfully,analysts say.

"They've bounced off the bottom," said Jeffrey Wlodarczak, an analyst at CIBC Markets Inc. "The company has executed on all the new services. They're working to improve debt-to-equity levels by 2003."

Charter's stock sagged soon after it went public at $19 a share in December 1999. Its shares fell to an all-time low of 10 a year ago. But since then the stock has bounced up, and now trades at around 22.