FOREIGN FIRMS HOPE TO JOIN JAPAN TELECOM COMPANY
One of two rival firms seeking to enter
Japan's international telecommunications market said it will
offer a stake in the company to 10 foreign firms.
    President of <International Telecom Japan Inc> (ITJ), Nobuo
Ito, decline to specify what share the firms would take, but
told Reuters they would not participate in its management.
    ITJ and <International Digital Communications Planning Inc>
(IDC), in which both Cable and Wireless Plc <CAWL.L> and
Pacific Telesis Group <PAC.N> own 20 pct stakes, are set to
merge into a new entity to compete against <Kokusai Denshin
Denwa Co Ltd> (KDD).
    The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has urged the
two rival firms to merge so KDD would have only a single
competitor. The ministry has also rejected foreign management.
    Japan's law limits foreign ownership of any new
international telecommunications entrant to 33 pct, so C and
W's and Pacific's stakes could be three pct in the merged firm,
sources said. Those seeking to join are General Electric Co
<GE.N>, Ford Motor Co <F.N>, <Citibank NA>, BankAmerica Corp
<BAC.NYSE>, <Shearson Lehman Bros Inc>, <Saloman Brothers>,
<Asia Boeing Computer Service>, Unisys Corp <UIS.N>, <Societe
Generale> and Deutsche Bank AG <DBKG.FRA>.
    The merger plan has been criticised for excluding foreign
firms from a meaningful position in the market.
    The U.K.'s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, U.S. Secretary
of State George Shultz, U.S. Commerce Secretary Malcolm
Baldrige and U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter have all
expressed such opposition.
    Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone will draft a
reply to the criticism following further discussion, a Posts
and Ministry official said.
 REUTER
