CABLE UNIMPRESSED BY NEW JAPANESE TELECOMS OFFER

  Cable and Wireless Plc &lt;CAWL.L> said new
  proposals unveiled by Japan for it to become a core member of a
  merged telecommunications firm to compete for
  telecommunications contracts did not remove the group's
  objections.
      The suggestions by Federation of Economic Organisations
  official Fumio Watanabe was a formal announcement of proposals
  made earlier this week and reported in the Japanese press.
      Cable has a 20 pct stake in one of the two groups trying to
  compete against Japan's &lt;Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co Ltd> which
  monopolises Japan's overseas telephone business.
      But a Cable spokesman said it still believed a merger of
  the two consortia would be impracticable. "They are like oil and
  water," he said.
      The Japanese authorities want only one competitor and have
  proposed that the two consortia band together. The issue has
  been taken up by the British government as a test case on the
  openness of Japanese markets. Watanabe's latest proposals said
  that the eight core companies of the new group should have
  equal share holdings but added that they could work out the
  precise percentages amongst themselves.
      The reports earlier this week said that Cable would be
  offered a five pct stake, up from an originally proposed three
  pct.
      Despite the apparent differences in stakes offered, the
  Cable spokesman said the two offers appeared to be essentially
  the same.
      Cable shares at 1100 GMT were quoted nine pence firmer at
  374p.
  

