Timing is everything, according to telecommunications billionaire Sir Terence Matthews.

He should know, he says, having several times launched new technologies that made him rich and richer.

The Welsh-born resident of Canada was in Bermuda yesterday to be the keynote speaker for the BTC Access Broadband Showcase hosted at the Fairmont Hamilton.

In an interview with , Sir Terence underscored the importance of timing by telling of how shares in one of a number of companies he has founded went from trading at $3 a share to $600 a share in the space of five years, because it rolled out just the technology customers were clamouring for.

Sir Terence's road to success can be traced back to the launch of his first company, Mitel, in 1972 in Ottawa, Canada.

In 1976 the company rolled out a microprocessor-controlled PBAX switch that effectively transitioned technology from being hardware-driven to software-driven.

That got the company noticed, he said, saying that it was the right technology at the right time, with it getting snapped up by telecoms around the world when the technology was put out to tender in 1977.

He said that included BTC, which had been one of the first clients.

To demonstrate just how well Mitel's launch of the new PBAX switch went over, he said, that, from 1972 to 1977, the company went from having no market share to having "20 percent of the planet".

Sir Terence said: "I did very well over that. The timing was spot on."

In 1985, he sold the company to British Telecom for $750 million.

Sir Terence himself has been coming to Bermuda about once a year since his first visit in 1970, he said.

And he praised BTC for never lagging behind in technology, but upgrading systems at the same time as much larger telecoms elsewhere.

He said that helped put Bermuda on the map in a business sense as good communications networks were integral to the Island's success.

"BTC was never lagging, they have always been up with the leaders ? that is part of the reason people are attracted here," he said.

To show how quickly technology is changing, he said, in the last five years a surge in demand has pushed down the electronic cost for one Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) link from about $1,000 to $100.

He said that all-the-time access to the Internet over broadband networks, as DSL is, are no longer for a "narrow niche" of people.

"It is not an elitist thing," he said, pointing out that 70 percent of people in Korea and 20 percent of Americans are now on broadband networks.

Knowing that time does not stand still, he said: "Even as we speak, I am about to launch a new venture" under holding company Wesley Clover Venture.

Sir Terence said the secret to perfect timing was not something that could be left up to fate but required constantly being in touch with the needs of customers.

A year after selling Mitel, Sir Terrence set up a second company, Newbridge. "That too turned out to be another winner," he said.

With Newbridge, Sir Terence made core networks for business services, and took the company public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1989.

In the next ten years it grew to having 6,500 employees and recording revenue in 1999 of $1.8 billion.

Success once again got the company noticed and another buyer knocked on Sir Terence's door in 2000 ? this time it was French telecoms giant Alcatel. But the offer was much, much higher this time around with $7.5 billion being the final price tag for Newbridge.

Sir Terence then bought back the Communications System division of Mitel Corp., and rights to the name, putting him once again at the helm of his first company.

Rebranded Mitel Networks Corporation, the company is now focused on providing next generation Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions for broadband networks.

He said to do that he has put more than $500 million into the company, largely to underwrite research and development.

Although many telecoms have faced a difficult financial road in recent years, Sir Terence said there are always opportunities.

"This is where old is being replaced with new."

Sir Terence is also busy supporting the sector's latest and greatest innovations with a technology venture capital firm ? Celtic House Venture Partners ? that he founded to invest in the early stages of new companies specialising in telecommunications, storage, networking and Internet infrastructures.

Sir Terence ? his business cards humbly leave out the Sir, referring instead to Dr. Matthews, and he is known simply as 'Terry' to friends ? was knighted by the Queen in 2001.

Although he has long lived and worked in Canada, Sir Terence may make his biggest mark in the next few years in his birthplace of Wales.

It was recently announced that Sir Terence, 61, has won the bid to host the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament.

The owner of several golf courses in both Ontario and Wales, Sir Terence will take the Cup to Wales in six years with a promise of spending $20 million to build a brand new course ? already named Wentwood Lakes? at his Celtic Manor resort near Newport.

It is also the site of Sir Terence's birth having previously been the grounds of a maternity hospital.

The news made a splash on Monday in the Detroit Free Press, with Sir Terence being interviewed over the weekend while attending the biennial Ryder Cup at the Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan.

But with ties to both sides of the Atlantic, Sir Terence would not yesterday be drawn on whether his support lies behind America or Europe.