TOSHIBA REGRETS LINK WITH U.K. ACCESS ISSUE

  Toshiba Corp &lt;TSBA.T> said it regrets its
  plan to enter the U.K. Business facsimile and telephone market
  may be caught up in a diplomatic row over the position of Cable
  and Wireless Plc's &lt;CAWL.L> in the Japanese market.
      Britain is considering how to retaliate against Japan's
  attempt to prevent Cable and Wireless from taking a major
  position in a Japanese international telecommunications
  venture.
      "As a matter of timing it is regrettable that this has been
  linked with the question of market access in Japan," a Toshiba
  spokesman told Reuters.
      &lt;Toshiba Information Systems (U.K.) Ltd>, a Toshiba
  subsidiary, said yesterday it planned to enter the U.K. Market
  under the Toshiba own brand name and had applied for government
  approval to do so.
      Toshiba has supplied equipment to U.K. Manufacturers for
  sale under their brand names since last year.
      The Toshiba spokesman said the sale of such equipment was
  not comparable to Cable and Wireless' efforts to take a stake
  in the new Japanese telecommunications firm.
      "They are matters of a different category," he said.
  

