Thursday, February 19. 2009Some Good Things Come From 'Economic Downturns'.....John Linton ......and one of the few good things is that supplier's metaphorical 'pencils' get sharper because they dont meet their business targets. It doesn't take much knowledge of elementary business for a sensible person to realise that as business conditions get tougher weaker busineses fail and as weaker businesses fail the suppliers to those businesses take a one off write off of any outstanding debt and then a reduced monthly revenue as the failed customer no longer buys from them. This then puts pressure on their revenue targets and their profit targets. The only solution, apart from lowering their targets (and suffering all the pain that goes with that), is to look for new business and, much easier to do, look to increase the volume of business that the remaining customers do - pretty obvious. The businesses that remain are dealing with the same 'market slow down' but are 'gifted' less competition by the weaker companies ceasing to exist and their customers having to seek new suppliers. Again - all pretty obvious. So, Exetel, although a tiny buyer from our suppliers does have one advantage - we pay our bills in full and on time and have dealt with our main suppliers for getting on for five years and in some cases for over five years. While I wouldn't describe our relationships with our suppliers as fantastically friendly (we have had to endure some pretty outrageous slings and arrows over the years) they are generally cordial (with the exception of Telstra) and we do get some good deals every now and then when they particularly need to 'repair' their revenue outlooks. For some time now, basically since the beginning of the year, we have been receiving more attention from several suppliers which we always assumed would lead to 'better things' over time and that has certainly been the case in some minor ways that has allowed us to, rather than having to increase our prices, be able to pass on reduced costs to our current and new customers in a continuing, small but steady, flow of additional 'content' and in some cases lower prices. So far this year we have been able to: Increase the number of free SMS from 20 to 30 on every broad band plan Add 20 free faxes via broadband to every broadband plan Increase the value of calls in the mobile capped plans quite substantially while leaving the price the same Add a small data allowance to all mobile capped plans without increasing the plan costs Reduce the cost of many overseas calls despite the problems with the dollar Increase the 12 midnight to 12 noon included downloads fro 48 gb to 54 gb Maintain the 12 hour 'off peak period' when so any other 'copiers' are decreasing their already less than useful hours Increased the Pioneer Discount by $A2.50 per person and now we have been able to slightly increase the 'peak' allowances on some plans while reducing some ADSL2 plan costs by $5.00 and $10.00 per month. This has been made possible by two things that has characterised the difference between Exetel's way of operating and almost all other 'commercial companies' which are that we are not in business to make as much money as possible, only enough to ensure our suppliers are comfortable with our balance sheet, and so when we receive cost reductions from our suppliers we invariably pass those benefits on to our users rather than increasing our monthly profits. I don't pay much attention to what other ISPs in Australia do but I haven't been made aware that there is much end user price reducing going on and there isn't a shadow of a doubt that all of the much larger ISPs than Exetel would have been 'given' the same or much larger cost reductions from their wholesale suppliers which are pretty much the same suppliers who supply to Exetel. So - good news for Exetel customers (perhaps the accusations of being very poor at looking after our customers have some holes in them?) and hopefully the tough times will produce lower communications charges for end users across the board. I mean - all these other ISPs are SO superior in their service offerings to their customers they would have to pass the current round of cost savings on wouldn't they - I'm told that they treat their customers so much better than Exetel does - of course those statements have some degree of lack of credibility based on the sources. Trackbacks
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Lovely a nice safe topic - phew...
It has always been my theory that as economic times worsen that Exetel will benefit by being a well run low cost isp. Hope your new GM staffing situation in Sri Lanka has proceeded with dramas. The more i use my Exetel hspa connection / albeit only on my laptop the more i see this technology as the future for a country as big as AU. cheers bill Comment (1)
We completed the SL GM interviews an hour ago and of the shortlisted 12 people any one of five people would be more than suitable in different ways.
I agree - my HSPA services in the three countries I have been in the last week work perfectly on phone and lap top. Comments (5)
LOL yes billdev, what happened to the TIO post?
p.s. Oh and what happened to your credit rating, did it get resolved? p.p.s. Any progress on a cheaper voip/hspa/router? (and would you look at prospects other than Netcomm?) Comment (1)
Telstra removed the default notices from the VEDA reports - not a word of apology. We have now asked for compensation.
We are making slow progress on finding the 'magic' box. Comments (5)
Any chance you may also consider adjusting the monthly subscription fee on the PAYUDSL2 plan?
Having a basic "phone plus ADSL2 connection" plan for around $30 per month plus usage charges would be very attractive to me and other "oldies". Regards, Harry. Comment (1)
I believe it was reduced by $10/mth a couple of days ago wasn't it?
Was $50/mth... now $40/mth. Comment (1)
I have been a fan of Exetel since it's inception, watching all the naysayers waiting for Exetel to fall over and crash and burn. Now that you guys have risen from the ashes a few times now, it's great to see you are powering on. It must b good to reflect back at what you guys have achieved, and to laugh in the faces of the naysayers. Overall apart from my current problems with my service (not Exetel's fault I'm sure) I am very happy with the service offering and the value and choice it brings me. If I could be so bold, I would suggest that the next carrot be (or a trial with a beta group to check it's viability) unmetered usage to abc.net.au/iview as I think that will be a service that attracts a lot of users, and although you offer generous downloads in your current plans would be a valued feature supporting one of the only national treasures we have left in this land
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Thank you for the encouragement.
If there's a delay in fixing a problem please email: martinv@exetel.com.au The ABC feed is not easy to 'trial'. Comments (5)
I mean - all these other ISPs are SO superior in their service offerings to their customers they would have to pass the current round of cost savings on wouldn't they - I'm told that they treat their customers so much better than Exetel does - of course those statements have some degree of lack of credibility based on the sources.
That sounds like a dare, JL!!! Raw efficiency will be the way to best mitigate this downturn. Something that Exetel does very well. In fact, I've been meaning to ring and possibly pick your brains about achieving similar benefits in an unrelated industry (consultancy in the construction industry). Perhaps you could take the business experience from Exetel on the road! Comment (1)
I could write a 2 page 'white paper' on ensuring all possible costs are removed from an operation - but that is just common sense and the ability to be ruthless.
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