41.   Nigeria announced Friday a fresh attempt to launch a second national telecoms operator to compete with the struggling state-owned provider NITEL, which currently has a monopoly.

42.   Other telecoms operators, such as cable companies, at present can provide international telephone services only via the networks of BT and Mercury.

43.   Pramindo is the fixed-line telecom operator in Sumatra.

44.   Sonera and Telia will merge later this year to create the biggest telecom operator in the Nordic-Baltic market.

45.   Tele-North is a closed joint stock company between Murmanskelektrosvjyaz, a Russian local telecom operator, and Telecominvest, a holding company from Saint Petersburg.

46.   The British telecom operator is currently engaged in talks with British Telecommunications on a possible merger.

47.   The country has undertaken a major privatization drive in telecommunications with the sell off of the chief telecoms operator Bezeq.

48.   The Americans are calling the shots in the negotiations for an accord that will save consumers billions of dollars in telephone bills and benefit telecoms operators and equipment producers.

49.   The company has major investments overseas, and recently won a foothold in the European market when it took a stake in the Belgian telecom operator Belgacom SA.

50.   The company also won a joint mobile phone license in Germany with VIAG, the German telecoms operator.