51.   America has one third of the global telecoms market and its vote will determine the outcome.

52.   Brittan said Barbados, Egypt, Jamaica and South Africa announced improved offers to liberalise their telecoms markets, while Indonesia said it was seriously considering making an offer.

53.   BT is in competition with Global One on the international corporate telecoms market through Concert, its alliance with the American operator, MCI.

54.   The United States, which controls a third of the global telecoms market, has the power to make or break a deal, so its assessment is paramount.

55.   This means European telecom markets are going to change in a very significant way.

56.   Malaysia, a developing country sharing many parallels with South Africa, has aggressively liberalised its telecom market, resulting in strong growth in revenue, productivity and products.

57.   Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Thursday called on Japan to stop accusing the country of being a stumbling block to a global accord on liberalising the world telecoms market.

58.   Mexico will open up its telecom market to competition for long-distance communications from August of next year.

59.   Mah told Singapore television that as far as he knew only Singapore, Canada, South Korea and Poland had made improved offers to open up their telecoms markets.