AT&T Corp is so preoccupied with all the opportunities opened up by the Telecommunications Act at home in the US that it is not turning out to be feisty fighter for business in Europe that the Dutch, Swedish, Swiss and Spanish investors in Unisource BV hoped it would be. So says Bloomberg Business News, which reckons that Compagnie Generale des Eaux SA’s Cegetel SA unit has spotted which way the wind is blowing and swiftly decided to seek to switch its allegiance to the one partnership over which there are no question marks – the Concert alliance between British Telecommunications Plc and MCI Communications Corp. According to the news wire, the UK phone company is in talks with Cegetel to secure the position it wants in France, and something may be announced as soon as the end of the month. The diversified water utility agreed an Iris joint venture with Unisource and AT&T in May 1995 (CI No 2,645). Its other international partners are Vodafone Group Plc and SBC Communications Corp, which are invited to invest in Cegetel (CI No 2,994).
