John Linton ......in residential communications offerings.
I had a long telephone conversation yesterday with someone I met a long time ago and have 'bumped into' in various airline lounges over the years. In another life he was part of the Silicon Valley minor entrepreneurs who always managed to become part of new start ups that never really went anywhere but always had great ideas and fabulous PR and marketing events at Comdex which were a 'must get an invite' occasions. He was, and is, a thoroughly nice guy and despite his advancing age he has lost none of his charisma which brings excitement and laughter to even long distance phone conversatons.
He had sent me an email setting out his latest company's products which look different and interesting and we arranged a follow up telephone call for yesterday in between trans Atlantic travel for him and prior to my one engagement of the week end for me. After we talked I don't think the opportunity is suitable for Exetel though it initially appeared it might be relevant to the residential markets we at least partially address. I think it would just take too much time at a period when time is very precious - more so than it has ever been. But it did make me think that it was a different approach that needed to be taken to residential communications in Australia or, for that matter, anywhere else.
I had, foolishly as it turns out, always assumed that Exetel (despite its small size) would always be able to compete with any other company (from Telstra Retail on down) because of our inherent advantages of far greater efficiency, no expenditure on advertising and marketing, no desire/requirement to make a profit from residential services and reasonable negotiating ability with suppliers. Seeing that listed companies need to make more profit than Exetel's requirements to break even on residential sales and their propensity to 'fatness' in every aspect of their operations this seemed a reasonable assumption that would allow Exetel to offer the lowest price for a good services producing year on year growth by word of mouth. As that 'go to market' methodology is no longer sustainable we have to change it but it has been difficult/impossible to find something to change it to over the past almost two years.
If the current federal government has its way and Telstra no longer provides the residential infrastructure in Australia has anyone really thought about what that actually means? Personally, I haven't seen a single word written on how communications services will be delivered without a long term experienced carrier doing the delivering (let alone the maintenance and development). Think, if you can get your mind around it, of what sort of organisations will provide you with your telephone and data services when/if Telstra and Optus become irrelevant in providing the vast majority of them? Does the word "chaos" enter your thinking? Have you ever, in any aspect of your life/at any time of your life lived through 'revolution'? Almost certainly not - yet who is actually considering how the chaos of the revolution unleashed on Australia by an unthinking one term only prime minister in a desperate attempt to save his snout in the trough perquisites (unsuccessfully as it turned out) is going to be brought about?
Absolutely no-one it appears to me. But then that's why the 18 year olds and the below average that voted for "fast internet" at the last election will live long enough to try and fix what they have so unthinkingly and casually broken and suffer the consequences of their stupidity.
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