Japanese telecom giant Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co (KDD) – in keeping with its previously announced $800m international expansion plans (CI No 3,138) – says it will begin an international phone service in Europe sometime this autumn, according to the Nikkei Daily News. KDD has been granted a license to provide the service using another firm’s phone lines in Britain and hopes to gain similar rights in Germany and France. It also plans to seek approval to use its own telecom facilities in the UK. The company says it will initially target sales at Japanese firms operating in Europe and later sign up local customers. Sales in Europe are projected to reach roughly $150m by 2000. In the US, KDD’s application for a license to offer an international long-distance service using both public and leased lines is still on hold due to previously reported government wrangling over US-Japan trade policy (CI No 3,121). If rejected, its plan to offer phone service from Europe to the US will suffer a serious setback.