TRADE

Telecom Talks on Hold, Deadline Extended: Trade negotiators meeting in Geneva pushed back their timetable nine months in an attempt to salvage an agreement to open multibillion-dollar telecommunications markets to international competition. The deal would affect telephone, fax and mobile services and bring down the cost of calls. While it now costs about two cents a minute to provide a transatlantic phone link--the same as a local call--European consumers pay about $2 a minute. The potential savings from an agreement have been estimated at $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The talks were in danger of collapse after U.S. objections that too few countries, especially in Asia, had gone far enough in their proposals for dismantling trade barriers.