1.   A spokesman said Bertelsmann AG was still in talks with Deutsche Telekom AG, the national telecoms provider, on an alliance between their respective on-line services.

2.   Broadband will rely on a combination of its own gear as well as lines leased from other telecom providers.

3.   Even as fixed-wireless broadband telecom providers like Teligent and WinStar have stumbled into bankruptcy, new competitors are still aiming for that market.

4.   Instead of switching telecom providers once every couple of years in search of a better deal, you might switch a dozen times a day.

5.   Japan will fall in line in part because its big telecom equipment providers, including NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd., will benefit from global liberalization, Inui said.

6.   Large portions of the phone numbers remained unused, held in reserve by the telecom providers for future customers.

7.   Short term, Sprint is offering to calm nerves by becoming a backup telecom provider for these firms.

8.   Telecom service providers.

9.   The announcements come on the heels of other recent deals with the likes of the Starbucks coffee chain and telecom provider Qwest Communications.

10.   Clarent unveiled a new product called OpenAcess, which enables telecom service providers to integrate and manage voice and data transmissions over a single network.