Julian Macassey <julian@bongo.uucp> (08/04/90)
I haven't seen a mention about this anywhere else so here goes:
A small item from the July 25th {Economist} (P 52).
"British Rail announced plans to invest 400m Pounds ($730m) in
its communications network. The corporation hopes to be allowed to
compete with Britain's telephone duopolists, British Telecom and
Mercury."
As far as I recall, Mercury uses British Rail rights of way to
run its cables from city to city. Those with long memories will recall
that SPrint used to be a service of Southern Pacific railroad.
Southern Pacific, like most large utilities had their own communications
network. They were smart enough to peddle off the excess capacity. So
will British Rail become the UKs third long distance carrier? Will
your calls always be late if routed via BR? (-:
Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian
N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495
[Moderator's Note: Not too many folks remember how SPRINT got named:
<S>outhern <P>acific <R>ailroad <IN>ternal <T>elecommunications.
Sprint's origin is precisely as you describe it. Beginning in the late
sixties, the railroad did a major renovation of its telecom
facilities, and wound up with far more than they needed. They
administered the sale of the excess for a few years until it got way
beyond their ability to administer and maintain. The rest is history. PT]