OTHER NEWS - Dec. 20, 1993

Hungary to Sell Stake in Telecommunications Firm: An American-German consortium will pay $875 million to buy a 30% stake in Hungary’s state telecommunications company and a 25-year national telephone concession, the government announced. The price tag makes the purchase by Ameritech Corp. and Deutsche Bundespost Telekom the biggest privatization deal in Eastern Europe to date, valuing Hungarian Telecommunications Co., known as MATAV, at nearly $3 billion. For Hungary, the deal not only helps it develop into a regional communications hub and ensures every village is tied into the international communications network by 1996, but also helps raise cash for its overstretched budget.