Fallen Telemedia star gleams again

By PETER GRIFFIN

New Zealand company Telemedia jostled with the big boys in the international market, but ultimately fell victim to the domino effect of bad debts in the telecoms industry.

Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, Telemedia at its peak had a market capitalisation of $A700 million ($849.5 million).

That made its charismatic leader and major shareholder Chris Jones a wealthy man on paper.

But Telemedia, owed millions in outstanding invoices, went into receivership last May, itself owing Westpac $A13 million and unsecured creditors $A30 million.

Customers hit by the telecoms tsunami simply were not paying up, it seemed.

But the swift progress Telemedia made overseas showed that the company was worth resurrecting.

Mr Jones and the cream of Telemedia dusted themselves off and began trading again, under the name Argent Networks, from an unassuming building in Freemans Bay.

This was made possible by venture capitalist Jenny Morel, who raised $10 million from private investors to give Mr Jones a fresh start.

The new company, says Mr Jones, managed to keep many of Telemedia's customers and is bringing in reasonable revenues, although he is not obliged to say how much because the company is unlisted.

Its main focus now is on telecoms billing platforms for the 2.5G and 3G services that telcos worldwide are developing.

But formerly resolute aspirations of doing business with the biggest telcos in the United States now have a more conservative ring.

Argent's intention is to partner overseas distributors rather than open offices all over the world, as Telemedia did.

"The last couple of quarters have been about keeping the customers happy," says Mr Jones.

"The next couple will be about making the products better and making new sales."

Payment terms with customers have, understandably, been tightened.

"You have to be careful who you do business with, but even the biggest companies do get into financial difficulty," says Mr Jones.

"Don't supply product unless they've paid for the last lot," is his warning to others in the business.