Wanadoo bets on Echo Interactive
Nicolas Dufourcq, the CEO of the Internet subsidiary of France Telecom, has confirmed the hopes he was putting in the start-up from Sophia Antipolis which, now, constitutes the technological plat-form of the group.
The Wanadoo price keeps on decreasing. Listed for 18 euros, the share is just over 5 euros on March 20th, that is to say more than 70% of decrease since July 2000 ! Nevertheless, the Internet subsidiary of France Telecom, despite stock-exchange ups and downs, keeps on going forward. The company bets a lot on a start-up from Sophia Antipolis : Echo Interactive, a company which now belongs to France Telecom at 100% and which constitutes today its technological plat-form.Thus, Nicolas Dufourcq, the CEO of Wanadoo, when he was in Sophia Antipolis, has confirmed to Michel Bisac, the manager of Echo and Christophe Ruelle, his assistant, all the hopes he was putting in Echo Interactive. So, Echo hosts services of Voilà and Alapage : 10 million pages are consulted everyday from servers set up in the premises of the high technologies Park in Mougins ! But the company from Sophia Antipolis keeps on developing new tools to improve portals, search engines, and all the professional services of the diferrent Wanadoo entities (7.500 employees). So, Echo which has now 80 people, keeps on recruiting, with an objective of about one hundred employees late 2001.'All the surveys show that Internet is going to become the norm,says Nicolas Dufourcq. There should be 5 million customers in 2003 as against 2 million at the moment, with a more important use from 15 to 25 hours a month as against 12 hours today. The biggest part of these customers will have the broadband. Wanadoo is going to launch before the end of the month an ADSL pack with the purchase of a 990 francs modem and a monthly package of 298 francs all included. 'And what about the market place price ? 'Wanadoo has been bought up as if it was a junior company, while it was only a new born. That can explain the price evolution'.Of course. But all of those who have bought these shares would have known it before is was so young...
