Filling in the details on its plans for the state phone company, Belgacom, chief executive Bessel Kok told Reuter that the phone company was holding informal talks with France Telecom, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, the Unisource BV Swedo-Dutch-Swiss venture, British Telecommunications Plc, AT&T Co and a number of the Baby Bells, talks that could lead to one of them taking a stake in the company ahead of a flotation that would still leave a majority in state hands; a stock market listing would take about a year to arrange and before it could happen, Belgacom would have to be transformed into a private company from its current status as an autonomous public concern.
