Telemedia International Ltd, the value-added telecommunications provider which is a division of the newly created Telecom Italia SpA, is planning a major global expansion. Plans for it to be able to deal with Italian customers have now been formalised and Telemedia believes it can more than quadruple its revenues to $140m by the end of next financial year from its current level of $30m. It will increase its presence worldwide, seeking to work with local telecommunications providers in various countries. And in the increasingly crowded international telecommunications arena, Telemedia believes it will have something different to Eunetcom and Concert to offer customers. Chairman Claudio Albanese said many customers feel abandoned by the large global alliances and it is in this field that Telemedia thinks it will clean up. However, this does not mean that parent company Telecom Italia has abandoned its search for an international partner. It had been hoping to team up with Sprint Corp but that alliance was scuppered by Sprint turned to France Telecom and Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. Telemedia says it believes that its presence within the Telecom Italia stable will be an inducement to potential foreign partners. Telemedia was formed in 1987 from the shell of a company Italcable SpA had in New York; the London headquarters were opened in 1992. It has regional headquarters in Hong Kong, New York and Buenos Aires, a further 12 branch offices, distributors in 18 cities and another 20 automated systems elsewhere. All these locations are connected by a proprietary backbone network that has been developed by the acquisition of point-to-point dedicated transmission capacity from local companies. It is actively seeking partnerships will small local providers that have no international capacity, rather than a worldwide alliance. Particular successful partners may even be bought. Telemedia provides messaging, data transmission, video conferencing, facilities management and network management and services to corporate clients. It operates Frame Relay and X.25 services using a variety of products. When it was first founded, Telemedia was prevented from going after Italian customers but the merger in August (CI No 2,468) of Italy’s five leading telecommunications operators to form Telecom Italia has lead to Telemedia being permitted to provide services to Italian customers. It is through this change in its business that it believes it will be able to increase its revenues. Although Telemedia believes it will be able to increase business elsewhere, in effect the total revenues of parent company Telecom Italia do not look as if they will be boosted much by Telemedia’s expansion plans, rather Telemedia’s increased revenues will merely represent a different route into the Telecom Italia pot. At present the US and UK are its biggest markets but Telemedia believes South America will become a strong market.
