At the same Salomon Brothers multimedia conference, Bell Atlantic Corp’s chairman, Ray Smith, said demand for interactive multimedia services could re-energise telecommunications and cable television into high-growth industries for those companies that did it right, Reuter reports from New York. In our judgement, the entire telecommunications industry, land line, wireless and cable, stand on the threshold of a new growth curve, he said, adding that he disagrees with the idea that the multimedia market is speculative. He said pent-up demand is evident in consumers’ willingness to get in cars and drive to video stores to pick up what is often their third or fourth choice movie and drive home again and in their willingness to memorise four different Personal Indentifation Numbers for their various phone, bank and credit cards. He suggested that the telephone and cable companies that will succeed in the interactive multimedia market are the ones moving to replace their embedded networks with broadband, two way digital switched networks, Smith said, noting that his own Philadelphia phone company is moving fast to upgrade its networks and offer interactive multimedia services.
