Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.telcom From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: telcom Fri, Mar 6 1992 Date: Fri, 6 Mar 92 05:54:04 EST Message-ID: 03-06 0000 DECISIONLINE: Telecommunications USA TODAY Update March 6-8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network JUSTICE WANTS TO RAISE RATES: The Justice Department has a proposal that could raise telephone rates so law officers can more easily wiretap suspected criminals. The plan: Require phone companies to have new high-tech equipment for wiretaps, and raise telephone rates to pay it. Justice officials weren't commenting on the proposal, circulating in Congress and obtained by The Associated Press. KOPIN RAISING FUNDS FOR HDTV: USA TODAY columnist Dan Dorfman reports that brokerage Tucker Anthony is hoping to raise close to $100 million in April for a company to make high-definition imaging products. The company: Kopin Corp. of Taunton, Mass. It'll offer 1.8 million shares at between $11 and $14 a share. Total shares outstanding is 6.8 million. ITT STOCK FALLS: ITT Chairman Rand Araskog says he is nervous "in a good way" for investors who recently bought into the company at almost $70 a share. The company's shares fell 2 3:4 Thursday to $66. The stock hit an all-time high, $70 5:8, Wednesday, a day after ITT said it had sold its 30% stake in Alcatel, the world's largest telecommunications-equipment manufacturer, for $3.6 billion. AT&T EXECS GET NEW OPTION: AT&T says it has a new stock-option program for top executives that is tied to company performance. Under the program, most new stock options can be exercised only if AT&T's stock price makes certain gains. Only a quarter of the options can be exercised at the market price the day they are granted and the rest only if AT&T stock rises 20% to 50%. COVIA, GALILEO WILL MERGE: As expected, United Airlines said Thursday it is merging its computer reservation system Covia with the Galileo system owned by a group of European airlines. The linkup will create the the world's biggest computerized airline reservation systems and the first global network, to be called Galileo International. In the USA, about 90% of all flights are booked this way. MOTOROLA IN DEAL WITH JAPAN: Motorola and Alps Electric of Japan have reached an agreement seen as a possible forerunner to other collaborative deals between Japanese and western companies. Under the arrangement, products based on the two companies' joint semiconductor research in Europe can be brought to world markets this year. COMPANIES TO SHARE IC: Motorola will supply Alps with an integrated circuit that the two companies designed and developed at their research facilities in Switzerland and England. The IC, which significantly reduces the size of the tuner module, is already being manufactured at Motorola's semiconductor plant in Toulouse, France. BT LINKS EUROPE AND N. AMERICA: BT Thursday unveiled a new transatlantic fiber optic cable linking the USA, Canada, England, France and Spain. The new 9,000- kilometer cable can carry the equivalent of 80,000 voice calls - twice that of TAT-8, the first transatlantic fiber optic cable which was brought into service in 1988. NORTHERN TELECOM HAS NEW BLDG.: Northern Telecom Thursday dedicated a new facility in Richardson, Texas, outside Dallas. Northern Telecom and BNR, its research and development subsidiary, will be housed together in the 20.5 acre campus in August 1992. Included: A 16-story tower for the marketing and sales force, and a three-story lab building dedicated to research and development in digital telecommunications. SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME: Not so long ago, there were widespread fears that one-armed robots would virtually take over U.S. factories. The robots haven't made tremendous headway, but smart computers that recognize the human voice are poised to sweep thousands from the white-collar sector. Earlier this week, AT&T said it would replace up to 6,000 people with a voice-recognition computer that can relay calls. COMPUTERS DO THE JOB: As the hearing computer takes charge, an exploding number of low-level workers - people who take reservations, process orders - could find themselves out of work. Amway salesmen order supplies by calling a system that repeats the order, then asks, "Is that right?" Gemologists who evaluate diamonds for Zale Corporation use a computer with a 127-word vocabulary to file their reports. COMCAST BUYS METROMEDIA UNIT: Comcast Corporation Thursday acquired all of Metromedia's cellular telephone interests, including control of "Metrophone," which serves the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding regions, in a transaction valued at more than $1 billion, payable in cash and zero coupon notes issued by Comcast's new cellular holding company subsidiary. Telecommunications Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM