Confusion reigned yesterday over a story in the Financial Times that IBM and British Telecommunications Plc were negotiating a joint venture to offer comprehensive computer service to large international companies and suggested that as a first stage, British Telecom would take over management of IBM’s internal network and link it with BT Tymnet, and that the two would later move on to offering international speech communications. IBM dismissed the story as purely speculative and declined to comment. British Telecom, however, issued a statement to Reuters denying parts of the story but seeming to confirm others – and then retracted the statement – but unfortunately, before the retraction was put out, the original statement had been broadcast on Channel Four Television’s Business Daily. In the retracted statement, Telecom denied that the two would joint offer services to third parties, but said that it was discussing with IBM the possibility of providing it with network service for its own operations. In its retraction, British Telecom substituted its original statement with a dismissive It is not BT’s policy to comment on press speculation about its business and commercial activities, adding that it is well known that BT is developing a strategy to provide global network services to major multinational organisations. It has already announced the Global Network Service and Global Network Offer, and in line with its strategy, it is naturally talking to major companies such as IBM. In 1984, a plan by IBM and Telecom to join forces in value-added network services in the UK was squelched by the Depart ment of Trade & Industry (CI No 46). British Telecom told Reuters that those talks have never been revived.
