Pictet Funds, the investment fund arm of Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie, has changed the focus of its PF (Lux) Telecom Fund to bring it up to date with sweeping changes in the world of digital communications and commerce.

The fund will now be known as the PF Digital Communication Fund and will have at least half of its portfolio exposure to the digital communications sector. It is managed by Bruno Lippens and Sylvie Sejournet.

"During the late 1990s dotcom boom, convergence was the buzzword. However, at that time the necessary technology was not yet available, and companies in the sector could not meet expectations. Much has changed since then. The required bandwidth for data transmission is now in place, " said Laurent Ramsey, chief executive, Pictet Funds.

The fund's managers will hope for a revival in fortunes of the communications and related sectors, as the fund has fared poorly for much of this year so far. Based on data for sterling-denominated shares (distributor class), the fund fell by 10.1 per cent, although not quite as poor as its benchmark, the MSCI World Telecom Services Index, of -11.3 per cent in the four months to the end of April, according to data on Pictet's website.

The fund is available to private investors and institutions across western, northern and central Europe, as well as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.