And indeed it did, in one segment of the long-distance market.

Still, the low end of the long-distance market is booming.

But he said the company decided to give the law a chance on the ground that it might open the long-distance market to competition.

These businesses account for about 20 percent of the long-distance market.

Five years after that, the local companies could compete on their own in the long-distance market.

International calls account for only 12.5 percent of the $91 billion long-distance market.

In 1980, 10 percent of its long-distance market was international, he said.

That will change after local phone companies are allowed to enter in the long-distance market.

The Indian government has opened the $1.3 billion international long-distance market to private companies, both foreign and domestic.

Last spring, the company said it expected to be in the long-distance market by the fall of 1998.