TELECOMMUNICATIONS

US West Unit Joins Belgian Phone, Cable Venture: The agreement gives the Englewood, Colo.-based firm a boost in the $180-billion European telecommunications market. US West Inc. and the Belgian investment concern GIMV said they will become partners in a new $1-billion telephone and cable-television network to compete against Belgacom, Belgium’s state-run phone company. GIMV said US West’s US West International unit has an option to buy a stake of as much as 25% in the venture, called Telenet Vlaanderen. Telenet is expected to begin operations by 1996. Financial details were not disclosed. Telenet will cost up to $1 billion to build, according to US West estimates. It is to deliver phone and multimedia services to as many as 2 million households.