TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AT&T; Wins $1.1-Billion Textron Contract: The company beat out British Telecommunications for the 10-year contract to upgrade Textron Inc.’s communications system worldwide. Providence, R.I.-based Textron, the maker of Bell Helicopters, E-Z-GO golf carts and Cessna planes, hired AT&T; Corp.’s Solutions unit to link the company’s 25 divisions through phones and computers. Textron expects to save more than $125 million over 10 years by using AT&T; to run the system rather than hiring contractors.