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Tiscali blossoms in internet access ranks

Sardinian telecoms company is the one to watch in the battle for eyeballs on the web as it finalises a &euro5.9bn takeover of WorldOnline

When Italian VC Pino Venture Partners took a 10% stake in an obscure Sardinian telecoms firm Tiscali in 1998, it knew it had backed a winner.

Tiscali's chief executive Renato Soru had just read that Freeserve, the UK ISP, was gathering millions by offering free internet access, and wanted to repeat the model across Italy.

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