Siemens AG has won its first public telephone exchange order from GTE Telephone Operations. The deal is a major victory for the West German giant over L M Ericsson and Fujitsu, both of whom are fighting to become the third major supplier to the Regional Bell Operating Companies and GTE. It is the first time that GTE has gone to an outside vendor since putting its main exchange operations into a joint venture with AT&T last year. The contract is for a 12,000-line EWSD switch, reports Electronic News; shipment is slated to begin early next year. AT&T Co and Northern Telecom Inc, however, are expected to continue their dominance of the US market for some time to come.
