Aiming to become the dominant force in the international telex market, MCI Communications Corp last week announced a letter of intent to buy General Electric Co’s RCA Global Communications – Globcom – unit for $160m. MCI and GE expect to reach a final agreement by September 30, and they hope to have necessary governmental approvals by the end of the year. RCA Globcom, based in Piscataway, New Jersey, specialises in the international telex and high speed data markets; it became part of GE after the June 1986 acquisition of RCA by GE. MCI provides international voice and electronic mail services through its MCI International unit. In early May of this year, New York investor Bennett Lebow arranged to acquire control of Western Union Corp and, at the same time, signed an agreement to buy ITT Corp’s ITT World Communications Inc unit (CI No 677); some observers suggested Lebow might also move to add RCA Globcom to a merged Western Union-ITT WorldCom alliance. That would have left MCI as the only other US-based telex service provider. Lebow’s transactions have not yet been completed.
