Telecom digital goes post-modern with rondomondo

Rondomondo is the upbeat name of Telecom Eireann's digital publishing house introduced in Dublin this week.

Telecom already publishes several popular websites, including Doras Movies and Muse, and rondomondo will continue to publish these but the new company will have a much wider brief.

Under its chief executive, Mr Barry O'Neil (26), the digital media company will introduce a variety of new publications on subjects ranging from personal finance to property.

It also hopes to stimulate e-commerce activity by publishing shopping catalogues.

Tuesday's glitzy and expensive launch surprised industry watchers.

More than 600 guests were invited to a party in the trendy Morrison Hotel and those lucky guests were not told beforehand what the party was for.

Not only did the invitation give no hints but further confusion was caused by its shape - which was that of a television screen.

This led many people to think it was the launch of digital TV.

Indeed, several revellers - made up mostly of Dublin's social set - left the party convinced they had attended the hotel's own launch party even though they had been drinking specially branded rondomondo champagne all evening. And the invitation was not the only teaser.

Newspaper readers last weekend were treated to a full-page colour advert in The Irish Times and a half-page in the Sunday Tribune featuring the same baffling TV screen.

The name itself is already proving a bit of problem: Mr Alfie Kane, Telecom's chief executive, suggested in his speech that he was not quite sure about it - not exactly a thundering endorsement.

But rondomondo is clearly serious about the work in hand.

The firm is based in the Eastpoint Business Park where it has an art production studio as well as two mixing rooms and a 360 sq ft studio with blue-screen facilities.

The company will be developing live studio broadcasts and programmes and it is part of the Fuse FM consortium which submitted a bid to the Irish Radio and Television Commission this week for the Dublin radio dance licence.