John Linton It has been quite an interesting week in many ways (if you ignore what you read in the financial press) starting with a phone call late Monday afternoon from one of the 'investment consultants' we briefly talked with last year about an interest he had received from an undisclosed party who was interested in buying Exetel. We had very little interest but did provide him with some figures and then never heard from him again which is pretty much par for the course for such approaches.
So I was surprised to receive the call (I seldom answer my mobile phone as I regard it as a tool for me to make calls on when I don't have ready access to a phone on my desk or wherever I'm located) and have a conversation as if we had only spoken a day or so ago. He not too gently 'berated' me for not returning the messages he had left for me and I told him that I never look at messages on my mobile phone or indeed any other phone I use - saying that I only use email as I distrust the 'spoken word' and my, and other people's inability to actually listen and then understand what is actually said.
After a meaningless minute or so being told the error of my thinking I asked him why he was calling me and how could I help him. After another few minutes of obfuscation he got to the point which was if we were 'still' interested in a "meaningful discussion" the company that had expressed interest in acquiring Exetel was still interested in doing that. I reminded him that we had provided the figures he had originally requested so that the 'interested party' coud state on what basis they would value the company and, if the figures once audited proved to be correct, what they would offer to buy Exetel.
Then followed several minutes of disclaimers about how that wasn't possible (I didn't remind him that the figures provided were as he stated they should be) and the 'interested party' needed to send 'some people' to spend several days looking at the operation of the business both here and in Sri Lanka before they would be able to suggest a basis for valuing the company. Yeah...right!
What is it about Exetel that makes people think we are complete f***ing idiots? Clearly we must give off signals of crass stupidity and total gullibility.
So I said I'd discuss it wth the other directors but personally could see no way we would give any ISP a detailed look at our operations and methods of doing business beyond the actual figures relating to the size of the company and its operating results for the past five years. That didn't include the names and positions and responsibilities of our personnel nor any other aspect of how the business was operated or how it achieved the resuts it did.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I had meetings with two of our larger suppliers which were interesting in themselves and in settling some views on what may or not be possible to achieve in some aspects of our business over the balance of the year. While not 'hearing what I wanted to hear' from one supplier it was OK because at least it meant that we woudn't waste any more time and money pursuing a path that was leading to a dead end. Another value of the meeting was the coalescing of a completely different idea that we had never seriously considered before but might be more valuable than any of the ideas that were closed off in the meeting. Also the 'collateral gossip' provided some insights into some issues with some competitors that was, if it was true, of real interest to me and to Exetel.
The second meeting was not very helpful either in terms of achieving anything immediately useful but, again, negative results are useful in themselves in terms of preventing more effort being put in to flogging 'deceased equines'. However the following lunch at probably my favorite restaurant was very enjoyable. So two meetings closed off two possible 'avenues of endeavour' in less than twenty four hours but opened up a completely different oppportunity that might turn out to be more valuable than both the other ideas combined.
On Thursday it seems we might have found the 'magic box' we need to make the HSPA rural broadband offer a reality (wifi/sim socket/2 ATA ports) and it will be interesting to see what the 'commercials' turn out to be - and the physical enginering standards of course. It would be really good if after a long 'search' we could actually get exactly what is required and at a realistic price.
The week finished on a high with two of the three sales trainees allocated to XDSL services getting their first sales for SHDSL business connections after only three weeks with Exetel. An impressive start for both ladies who three weeks ago had never heard of SHDSL or Ethernet. Obviously there is a long way to go with this dificult and very expensive program but it has got off to a very good start.
It was a week full of interesting developments.