International Business

AT&T;, Alcatel to Build African Cable System: AT&T; Corp. and France’s Alcatel Cable units have agreed to cooperate on the design, manufacture, supply and installation of Africa One, an undersea cable system. An AT&T; spokeswoman declined to disclose the value of the agreement with Alcatel, but she said the entire project is valued at $2.6 billion. The fiber-optic system, which will encircle the continent, is a project of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union, the Pan-African telecommunications agencies Rascom and PATU, and AT&T; and Alcatel. The project is scheduled to be completed in 1999.