(1 December 2005 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: London based business to business media group Expomedia Group PLC and South Asia's first specialty media house CyberMedia today announced the signing of a 10-year joint venture agreement in India.

The agreement would see the two organisations collaborating on the organisation of new international events in the ICT and Life Sciences arena. The JV agreement was signed on 29 November 2005 by Shashoua and Cyber Media Events Ltd executive director K K Tulshan.

The joint venture, the first and only one of its kind in the Indian events landscape, brings together synergies of the international relationships, which Expomedia enjoys across countries, and CyberMedia's strong foothold in the Indian market. These client relationships would be leveraged to deliver value in these events to both sponsors and visitors.

Gartner estimates that the internet communications technology spending in India will surpass $54.8 billion by 2008, a rise from $29.5 billion in 2004 and India continues to have the fastest growing ICT market in the world, with a CAGR of 19 per cent from 2004 through 2008.

Given this growth, events would be a critical platform and communication channel for bringing key vendors and users together. Some of the events organised under this venture would include 'The Internet Communications Technology Show' and the 'Life Sciences Event' both due to take place at the newly opened Expo XXI Centre in New Delhi in 2006.

Expomedia CEO Mark Shashoua added, "By collaborating with Cyber Media on a series of successful events, we are significantly expanding our portfolio of events in India. This is an incredibly exciting time for both the ICT Sector and the exhibition industry and we look forward to a successful future together."

CyberMedia's Event business, established 16 years ago, currently organises over 100 annual events in large and mid sized Indian cities. These events leverage its strength in the technology and life sciences space across its media and media services businesses. It has been responsible for organising and managing events like Bangalore IT.In (earlier Bangalore IT.Com), IT-Kerala, Hi-Tech Pune etc.

Expomedia Group Plc organises over 100 exhibitions worldwide and with its network of international offices in over 10 countries and an international client base of over 8,000, is ideally placed to provide the international audience reach to the events it organises in each of its markets.