The French government, in the guise of France Telecom, turns out to be British Telecommunications Plc’s mystery continental partner in the bidding for one of the UK Telepoint operator franchises on offer (CI No 1,042). The eleventh name, which we were not given on Friday, is Racal Vodafone’s former partner, Millicom Inc. And the Philips Telecommunications & Data Systems bid includes Barclays Bank Plc and Shell Oil Co Plc, which both have sites to propose for base stations.