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Excite@Home Corp. shares rose 14% after Comcast Corp. President Brian Roberts said the company would be willing to buy AT&T; Corp.’s 56% voting stake in the company. The stock gained as much as 60%, although it pared gains after Comcast and Excite@Home said Comcast hadn’t made a bid. Comcast, the No. 3 U.S. cable-TV provider, and Cox Communications Inc., the No. 5 company, have agreed to sell 60 million Excite shares to AT&T; at $48 each, or about $3 billion. That plan was worked out in March and would boost AT&T;’s voting stake in Excite to 74%. Shares of Excite@Home rose $2.44 to close at $19.94 on Nasdaq after reaching $28. Philadelphia-based Comcast fell 69 cents to close at $33.06, also on Nasdaq. AT&T; rose 56 cents to close at $37.69 on the NYSE.

* U.S. wireless phone usage rose 59% in the first quarter from a year earlier as lower prices fueled a surge in calling, according to a market research study by International Data Corp. The report said U.S. households used wireless phones 247 minutes per month on average last quarter compared with 155 minutes in the same period a year ago. The findings come from phone interviews with 900 users.