World telecom giants pool in for faster web

WASHINGTON, May 12: Leading foreign groups are joining American companies in an effort to make Internet access available at 30 times the speed possible today with the most advanced modems over standard telephone lines.

Compac Computer, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp first announced the formation of a group in the United States in January along with the country8217;s six largest local telephone companies to use the new technology based on ADSL asymmetric digital subscriber line. Foreign groups that will now join the Americans are British Telecommunications, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and Singapore Telecommunications, according to US media reports.

The support of these overseas phone giants to the American behemoths vastly increases the group8217;s prospects of developing a global standard for the phone technology for the benefit of customers worldwide.

The support of the foreign companies should make it easier to win the support of the International TelecommunicationsUnion ITU, which coordinates global technical standards.