In apparent disregard of the fact that on all normal business criteria, profits on international telephone calls are obscene, Belgian state-owned telecommunications company Belgacom NV complained yesterday that European Community deregulation of the telephone market was likely to exacerbate a price war on international calls: according to Reuter, the group plans to respond by overhauling its working practices and raising domestic phone charges; Belgacom chief executive Bessel Kok told a meeting with Belgian businessmen that international call charges in Belgium could fall by 40% to 50% over the next four to five years due to competition from foreign telephone companies; he added there would be a serious price hike for local calls in Belgium, but unless the businessmen were irredeemably parochial, they will have been delighted at his words; Kok also said some of Belgacom’s 26,000-strong staff would have to move from non-core to core activities – We may have the biggest garage, the biggest restaurant and the biggest printing shop in Belgium – that is not essential.
