International Business

Viag, British Telecom in Joint Venture: The German industrial group said it is forming a $960-million joint venture with British Telecommunications to set up a communications network spanning Germany. Viag became the first of several German companies seeking to compete with Deutsche Telekom to align itself with a foreign telephone giant. But the joint venture, which is named Viag InterKom and will be based in Munich, must first receive proper regulatory approval and requires licenses from authorities. The venture between British Telecom and Viag seeks to wrestle market share away from Deutsche Telekom, which now holds a virtual monopoly in Germany.