CABLE UNIMPRESSED BY NEW JAPANESE TELECOMS OFFER
Cable and Wireless Plc <CAWL.L> said new
proposals unveiled by Japan for it to become a core member of a
merged telecommunications firm to compete for
telecommunications contracts did not remove the group's
objections.
    The suggestions by Federation of Economic Organisations
official Fumio Watanabe was a formal announcement of proposals
made earlier this week and reported in the Japanese press.
    Cable has a 20 pct stake in one of the two groups trying to
compete against Japan's <Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co Ltd> which
monopolises Japan's overseas telephone business.
    But a Cable spokesman said it still believed a merger of
the two consortia would be impracticable. "They are like oil and
water," he said.
    The Japanese authorities want only one competitor and have
proposed that the two consortia band together. The issue has
been taken up by the British government as a test case on the
openness of Japanese markets. Watanabe's latest proposals said
that the eight core companies of the new group should have
equal share holdings but added that they could work out the
precise percentages amongst themselves.
    The reports earlier this week said that Cable would be
offered a five pct stake, up from an originally proposed three
pct.
    Despite the apparent differences in stakes offered, the
Cable spokesman said the two offers appeared to be essentially
the same.
    Cable shares at 1100 GMT were quoted nine pence firmer at
374p.
 REUTER
