Singapore Telecom (SingTel) is teaming up with Lycos Inc in a $50m joint venture to deliver localised versions of Lycos.com and Tripod to more than 10 Asian markets. The 50:50 venture, called Lycos Asia will provide local portal sites with services such as World Wide Web navigation and search and community features. Local languages and contents will be used.
Lycos, one of the fastest-growing internet portals and largest online communities, will provide its search, navigation and community technologies. SingTel will manage the day-to-day operations, including local content aggregation, sales and administration.
The venture will be based in Singapore and the first site, to be launched before the end of the year, will be for Singapore. Sites China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and India will be rolled out quickly after that. Local analysts were not over-enthusiastic over the news of the venture. Said one: Everybody is tying up with everybody. The market is fatigued by such news.
