TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Pacific Telesis Tells of Merger Talks With Wireless Firms: The San Francisco-based regional Bell operating company said in an application for a federal auction of wireless cable licenses filed Oct. 10 with the Federal Communications Commission that it had had merger/acquisition talks with Wireless Holding Inc. and Videotron Inc. Videotron is a unit of Montreal-based Videotron Groupe. In the application, the three agreed to form a subsidiary to do the bidding for all three companies if a merger agreement had been reached by Oct. 30. But “we have not announced a merger agreement,” PacTel spokesman Craig Watts said. PacTel said last month it will use wireless cable to deliver video programming in parts of Southern California until it can complete a fiber-optic cable network. The FCC plans to auction 493 wireless cable TV licenses beginning Nov. 13. Videotron and Wireless also plan on bidding under the respective holding companies BayArea Holdings and Transworld Holdings.