Southwestern Bell Telecom UK, Southwestern Bell Corp’s Southall, West London-based division, set up in 1987 to sell a range telecommunication products to the UK residential and small business market, has introduced several more products to its already extensive range. Working on the assumption that the cordless phone and the answering machine are popular products in their own right, Southwestern Bell has come up with what is surprisingly the first amalgam of these products in the UK. In addition to the usual features, the FF680 combined cordless telephone and answering machine also offers the Digital Call Guard system, which prevents other cordless phone users from listening in to calls. The FF680 will retail at UKP190, with a trade price of around UKP120. Four new answering machines are also available which Southwestern Bell claims offer a feature package not previously available for the price. The FA1960 and FA1850 are both single tape machines that include full remote operation; the FA1850’s features include call monitoring, one-touch playback, volume and microprocessor control; the FA1960 has 30 memories, on-hook and chain dialling, recall, pause and hearing-aid compatibility. The FA1960 and FA1850 retail at UKP70 and UKP100 respectively. The FA1625 and FA1525 are dual tape versions with some remote control features, such as remote turn on and remote time saver; the FA1625, which has a built in telephone and a 10 number memory, retails at UKP130 and the FA1525 comes in at UKP100. The St Louis, Missouri-based parent company, Southwestern Bell Corp, which had a turnover of $8,000m in 1988, was formed in 1983 as a result of a divestiture from AT&T, and has been the most conservative of the Baby Bells in terms of diversification and making acquisitions – and may have been wise in that – many of the acquisitions made by the others have turned sour, and several have been sold again. In designing and marketing telephone products, it is sticking close to its last: in the US it is known mainly for the Freedom Phone, which sold a million in just over two years; Southwestern Bell UK, which now markets 16 products and uses exten sive advertising to make its presence felt, is committed to achieving the same success in the UK.
