French railway operator SNCF and telecom operator Cegetel have agreed upon a three-year lock-up period in the new joint venture they are setting up, a source familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires. Cegetel, Vivendi Universal's 70%-owned telecommunications unit, and SNCF have been in talks for nearly a year to merge Telecom Developpement (TD), a fixed-line carrier in which SNCF owns 51.1% and Cegetel 49.9%, with Cegetel's fixed-line activities. A spokesman for SNCF declined to comment on the deal.
