TCI Files to Sell Telephony Stock

The nation’s largest cable television operator, Tele-Communications Inc., filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $250 million through the sale of shares in its newly created telephony group.

The filing comes as TCI Chairman John Malone reshapes the Englewood, Colo.-based company to focus more on cable television, cut costs and increase its cash flow. The company has spun off its satellite-TV business, may spin off its Liberty Media Group programming arm and its international operations.

TCI last month said it would create a tracking stock for its telephone operations as a precursor to a public offering.

The new stock covers TCI’s 30% stake in a series of partnerships formed to provide wireless communication services under the Sprint brand name. The telephony group also holds the parent company’s 31.1% equity stake in Teleport Communications Group Inc., a provider of local telecommunications services in major metropolitan areas. The money will be used to fund part of the telephony group’s anticipated capital requirements, including capital contributions that the group must make to the Sprint ventures through 1998.