Ronald Lauder, former US ambassador and son of cosmetics pioneer Estee Lauder, last month launched a bid to turn his telecommunications company, RSL Communications Corp, into a major provider of international telephone services by buying out the French and German international voice sales and services operations of Kansas City carrier Sprint Corp, for an undisclosed sum. RSL is also launching operations in the UK, Sweden and Finland – operating in the UK as a licensed international simple resale carrier, and as a full international operator in Sweden and Finland. The company already has operations in Africa, Asia and the Americas and generates revenue of roughly $100m a year. RSL’s chief executive, Itzhak Fisher, predicted that it would be a billion dollar company by 2000. RSL will target business customers first but will begin offering residential services later this year. Initially, only telecommunications services will be on offer, but the company intends to offer data services using X.25, Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Services available now are telephony, virtual private networking, credit and debit card calling, phone shops, voice mail, and store and forward. Lauder boasts that the company will be the leading independent telecommunications carrier in Europe within 10 years. RSL is a US-led company set up in 1994 with the aim of becoming a telecommunications player through developing, operating and owning international telecommunications companies in key regions.
