John Linton
The first five years of Exetel's existence are over and today we start implementing the significantly revised operating plan which includes several new 'directions' and very new ways of operating the overall business. In fact we have already started to implement some of the plans and to make some of the required organizational changes.(if that grandiose phrase can be applied to a company of 40 people). We will also finalize most of the new plans for business users we have been working on over the past ten days. Perhaps it's my strange personality but I always feel 're-energized' and more optimistic when starting 'new years' or even 'new financial years' - perhaps it appeals to my sense of 'neatness'?
Yesterday we raised the ADSL1 activation charge to continue to slow the receipt of new ADSL1 applications and today we will begin the process of moving some 8,000 ADSL1 users to AAPT ADSL2 at the same prices they are currently paying for their current ADSL1 plans - this should make the people on 256/64 ADSL1 and 512/128 ADSL1 plans really happy. If this process goes smoothly we will increase the new user ADSL1 activation charge further and then phase out offering ADSL1 to new users before the end of the current financial year. Today we will also increase the activation charges for all ADSL2 new users from the December promotional charge of zero to a fairly innocuous $40.00. For Exetel users who are changing from ADSL1 to ADSL2 it will, obviously, remain at zero.
We will also start the 'persuasion campaign' to move another 13,000 ADSL1 users to the Optus ADSL2 plans and see if we can overcome the problem of people wanting to keep their telephone line rental and call charges with their current provider (Goodness knows why, but some considerable number of people seem to think this is important). We have had some successes with this migration over the past few months but not nearly enough and we need to find the 'magic' words to actually make this happen. I have run out of ideas.
We will aim to complete this program of moving up to 20,000 ADSL1 to ADSL2 by April 30th 2009 - though that is probably a little optimistic and the more likely time frame is going to be closer to June/July. Of course, all time frames are dependent on Telstra's decisions, if any, on the ongoing provision of ADSL1 services in exchanges that are ADSL2 equipped and also the pricing of ADSL1 services. As we have zero knowledge of those possible scenarios we can only base our own plans on assumptions.
We will also start the process of moving a further 10,000 256/64 and 512/128 low usage ADSL1 customers who aren't on ADSL2 enabled exchanges to HSPA services - assuming that there is coverage then these users would get the benefit of 4+ times the speeds of their 256/64 service at approximately 2/3 of the costs they currently pay plus the opportunity of getting rid of the telephone line rental should they wish to do that. You would have to think such a move would be very appealing but there is an innate conservatism at that end of the market that is hard to get past. We will have to try much harder.
If these programs are successful they will result in moving 75% or so of all current ADSL1 services to faster infrastructure at less cost to the end user (and less cost to Exetel) - everybody wins. That's the theory and the plan. If it's successful then the end would be at least in sight of no longer being 'controlled' by Telstra and it would also be nice to get our million dollar bond back and use it more usefully rather than the 'dead' money it currently is.
We will continue to interview to create three sales teams to market Exetel's products and services to three different marketplaces and will begin the 'set up' work to make the services 'known' to prospective buyers by the start of next week. This is 'new ground' for Exetel and will therefore, in very different ways, be more difficult than migrating 30,000 ADSL1 users. We have never had any real sales presence other than to respond to telephone and email enquiries so building the equivalent of another Exetel (40 sales people) is going to be an interesting exercise.
All in all it will be a pretty busy week operationally but, one of the many advantages of automated systems the 'physical' work can be accomplished by a few key strokes. The main work is in dealing with the customer queries and the provisioning 'glitches' that may occur. However we have extensively 'tested' these processes over the past few weeks and are relatively confident that the systems in place can cope with the planned increased volumes. Time will tell, but if there are any issues we will slow/stop the process until they are resolved.
Our other key program over the coming months is to increase our HSPA sales from a few hundred a month to 3,000 a month by May. This will not necessarily be much more difficult but it will require us to reach new markets and put in place new programs that we haven't used for over five years and we therefore have no current knowledge of how to make this happen in any current detail. It will be exciting.
So a new year and a 'raft' of new challenges and opportunities. Does life get any better - even without the smell of napalm in the morning?