Duquesne Enterprises

Coyote Network Systems, a Los Angeles telecommunications company, said Wednesday that it will merge with HomeAccess Microweb, an Irvine incubator company owned by the electric and water utility concern Duquesne Enterprises. The firms will combine to produce a new line of low-cost Internet appliances--essentially telephones with video screens--that will be distributed free to subscriber homes and small businesses.

Coyote Network Systems, a Los Angeles telecommunications company, said Wednesday that it will merge with HomeAccess Microweb, an Irvine incubator company owned by the electric and water utility concern Duquesne Enterprises. The firms will combine to produce a new line of low-cost Internet appliances--essentially telephones with video screens--that will be distributed free to subscriber homes and small businesses.

The telephone, the last sanctuary of private communications in the Information Age, is about to be invaded by advertising. Former MCI Communications Inc. executive Perry Kamel, who has an eye for unusual promotional opportunities, is launching a long-distance service called FreeWay that offers callers free minutes for every commercial message they hear. Meanwhile, a number of small calling card firms, including one called Free for All Systems Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.