During its first year of business, the new entity plans to construct an ultra-modern network linking 38 cities, thereby exceeding government requirements. The network will offer a full range of competitive services, including data transmission and long-distance and international communications. The consortium's victory also represents a major success for Global One, the international joint venture of Sprint, France T l com and Deutsche Telekom , which will provide the new entity's international data transmission service. Within three years, this secure network will be serving a large number of customers across Brazil. This major long-term investment underlines the consortium's confidence in the country and in its vast potential for growth.
United Kingdom pledges to help developing world benefit from globalization .
The contribution will be used to help the WTO fund training and technical seminars designed to help developing countries better understand their rights and obligations under international trade agreements. Supreme Court decision reinstates FCC's authority to set rules promoting local competition . The United States Supreme Court has reaffirmed the nationwide authority of the Federal Communications Commission to set prices and terms for entrance into the USD 100 billion local phone market. In its decision, the Supreme Court invalidated several rulings by the Eighth Circuit Appeals Court that had overturned key portions of local competition rules adopted by the FCC in August 1996. A particular area of controversy was the ruling by the FCC that the ILECs and GTE were to lease portions of their local telephone networks to competitors at deeply discounted prices.