British Telecommunications Plc is expanding in the US voice processing market with acquisition of a major stake in San Francisco-based VoiceCom Inc, achieved in part by merging Telecom’s Friend Technologies Inc affiliate into VoiceCom to create VoiceCom Systems Inc. No details were given of the major investment Telecom is making in VoiceCom, and Telecom was not immediately able to give any financial information on the company. VoiceCom, a provider of US-wide voice messaging, call processing and voice response services, says it will use British Telecom’s cash to fund geographic expansion, product development and acquisitions: it currently serves some 200 companies from centres in Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and New York. British Telecom says that it is very excited about the growth prospects in the voice processing market and is pleased to be forming an association with a market leader in a US industry that is growing at 50% per year. The Friend Technologies business was built around call answering, paging and messaging applications for office and cellular car phones, selling the services directly, through resellers and in association with regional Bell operating companies. Telecom will get a seat on the VoiceCom board.
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