Teleport Communications Group Inc, the aggressive New York telecommunications company, has agreed a $1bn deal to acquire ACC Corp, the Rochester, New York long-distance operator. The deal, a further illustration of the feeding frenzy among US telcos, gives TCG an immediate presence in Canada and Western Europe. ACC was already on the receiving end of an unwelcome take-over approach from Tel-Save Holdings Inc, which is now dropping its bid. But the agreement will not affect ACC’s current acquisition of US Wats Inc, a domestic US long-distance re-seller. TCG uses fiber-optic and broadband radio to provide services to businesses in 57 US markets and has been looking for opportunities to expand internationally. This combination will support TCG as a premier full-service telecommunications and information services provider to leading businesses in the United States and now Canada and western Europe, said the company’s chairman, president and chief executive Bob Annunziata. Many of TCG’s traditional customers have operations in Canada, Britain and Western Europe and they have been asking us to bring TCG to these markets as well. In May, ACC Telecom Ltd, its UK subsidiary became the first beneficiary of the liberalization of German telecommunications when it signed a deal with Deutsche Telecom to become the first switchless reseller of its services. In the UK, it has been under-cutting major operators and, during the second quarter of 1997, it acquired Transphone Ltd, a London-based domestic and international long distance service reseller, with a strong base of commercial customers. It followed this by buying United Telecom Ltd, which provides domestic and international long distance services through a pre-paid calling card platform in retail telephone shops. ACC’s shareholders will be hugely pleased with the $50 a share offer, because, as recently as May they were around the $141/4 level.
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