A £33 billion merger in America between Bell Atlantic and Nynex is said to be good news for the British operation.

Nynex CableComms, the UK subsidiary, is engaged in a multi-million pound cable television and telephone programme in the North-west, including Bolton.

A spokesman at the London headquarters said today: "Our UK employees should feel very good about this."

He added: "This puts us in a very strong group."

The American deal, which follows recent de-regulation, creates the second largest telephone company in the US and the fourth largest in the world. The merged company will serve 26 million American customers with conventional telephones and 3.4 million with cellular phones.

It will mean the loss of about 3,000 American jobs in central management.

Ivan Seidenberg, the Nynex chairman, was quoted as saying this week: "Our view is we'll create jobs much faster in new markets than we will lose them in our core business."

In the UK Nynex is one of the operators involved in a national marketing campaign for cable services - "Get Connected."

Nynex reports increased take-up in Britain, particularly for residential telephones.

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