Having missed out on the Telepoint licence awards in the UK, GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd is now seeking to gain a CT2 foothold in France. The company has signed an agreement with Electronique Mecelec and Electronique Serge Dassault, ESD, with the aim of supplying common air interface Telepoint equipment to France Telecom’s future network. The deal comes after the breakdown of Ferranti Creditphone Ltd and Alcatel SA talks (CI No 867) to supply equipment to the PTT. France Telecom looks certain to set up a network conforming to the Common Air Interface standard, which will not be introduced in the UK until 1991. It will conduct field trials in early 1990, and wants a system in operation by the start of 1991. The monopoly PTT has released an expression of interest to attract potential CT2 suppliers; a second Telepoint operator’s licence in France is extremely unlikely. Tim Lowry, of GEC Plessey’s mobile systems and terminals group, claims the company will benefit from concentrating on common air interface products, describing the pre-CAI equipment that will come onto the UK market this year as mickey mouse; putting cash into this technology, he claims, is akin to investing in obsolesence. GEC Plessey and its new partners are working on interfaces with French public network. Electronique Serge Dassault specialises in telephone network management and electronic funds transfer, Mecelec in telephone handset manufacture. Meanwhile, Shaye Communications Ltd has shipped its handset and radio frequency unit, pre-CAI in spite of France Telecom’s preference, to Crouzet SA, which has adapted the unit to the French network and shown it to France Telecom (CI No 1,041). GPT has already presented Telepoint trials to the Deutsche Bundespost, and will announce a joint venture with one or more West German companies shortly.
