John Linton .....they continue out of habit with no major issue to bring them to either a revival or a conclusion.
The last 'full' week of January has begun and the 'new year' is well under way - before many commercial entities have properly returned to work. Even this week, with Australia Day turning it into a three day week for many 'working people' is still significantly affected by the Christmas Break scenarios so 'real work' will not begin in many companies until next Monday. I suppose January is our equivalent to the EU's August but never having worked anywhere but Australia I have no knowledge of other country's working habits - or lack of them. With a week or so to go, Exetel will have a very good January and that will get the new calendar year away to a very good start which is far more desirable than trying to catch up for the whole of the first quarter and beyond.
As I mentioned yesterday, we will complete whatever arrangements we can 'negotiate' in terms of revising our 'pure' IP and inter capital connectivity over the next few days to ensure we progress the development of that infrastructure before the March 31st 'dead line'. We have completed the re-structure of our supply relationship with AAPT via the partnership to develop the corporate and business sales capabilities in Colombo which got off to a 'formal start last week and is making some early progress. We now need to look at our long overdue for review relationships with Testra and Optus. We have gained very little from those relationships over the past few years and have only continued them out of 'habit' under the stresses and strains of Telstra's market assaults that left little or no time for strategic thinking let alone planning or actually doing anything about developing those key sources of services.
In Telstra's case we would never have entered in to a relationship with them in January 2004 if they behaved then as they behave today.There is simply no advantage to Exetel in dealing with their predatory practices and their stone wall supplier relationship methodologies. Our problem is that we did start dealing with them eight years ago and this relationship went past its 'honey moon period' within the first three years and is now a 'marriage' from Hell. How we arrange a suitable 'divorce' without hurting the 'children' is the only thing that keeps us in the relationship and that has become so expensive (to us) over the past few years it is reaching the intolerable stage.
If Telstra is the 'wife' then having a 'mistress' in Optus has long ago lost its allure - on both sides. We are obviously not going to 'marry her' and 'she' long ago began to share her favours with other more likely candidates to the point where its hard to even arrange time together without the embarrassment of seeing signs around her apartment of other 'activities' that make you realise how far from that intoxicating initial favour you have fallen. Is it possible to rekindle those first giddy experiences with either wife or mistress by actually sitting down and thrashing out where it all went wrong? For the sake of the kids I suppose we have to try - but I'm not encouraged by the chances of success.
My personal problem is that I am too old, perhaps too cynical, to believe anything either 'wife' or 'mistress' have to say - and I'm pretty sure that belief is mutual. Under such circumstances, short of another pregnancy, it seems to be something for the lawyers.
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