Wednesday, October 27. 2010I'll Huff And I'll Puff And.......John Linton I'll look a bit of of a ****head.....or so this and other statements in the public domain seem to mean: If I'm reading this, and other statements made by the CEO of Internode, correctly his 'negotiating' and public whining has allowed Internode to "force" Telstra Wholesale to reduce the prices at which it sells ADSL2 services to Internode. This has resulted in Internode now being able to offer Telstra ADSL2 services at far higher prices that Exetel already sells the same services. Exetel hasn't had to "huff and puff" either directly to Telstra, the ACCC or make whining comments about Telstra Wholesale in the public domain - nor has any other Telstra Wholesale customer as far as I have noticed. I wonder whether Internode gets better prices from TW than Exetel does? I will never know but, based on their "just released, new, lower" prices it doesn't look like it.....but then..... .....These are very tough times and it appears from the 'carry on' that Internode have been indulging in that their business is not going as smoothly as they believe it is their right to operate under in all phases of all markets at all times. It is one of the more obvious 'public' signs that ISPs in Australia are not finding the current market conditions to their liking. TPG's continual 'price cuts' are another of the more obvious signs and the closing of iinet's corporate mouth is another. But you would have had to have been truly stupid not to have realised that Telstra Retail's frantic give aways over the past year or so to "regain market share" would have resulted in exactly what is now happening and that Telstra's CEO's statement that they would be spending an additional billion dollars on "regaining market share" would only make Australian ISPs think of the previous twelve months as "the good old days". We had one of our periodic meetings with Telstra yesterday (no "huffing and puffing" - just the sensible business discussion as to how/if we could do more business with each other at our low volumes) but the usual 'frank exchange of views' on our behalf. One of the things that we discussed, me bluntly - TW carefully, was there any long term future for Telstra to operate a wholesale business at all? In a future world of 'NBN2' what place was there for a 'sub-wholesaler' when Telstra had to buy residential services from a government monopoly that, by definition, was going to have to operate a true wholesale business based on true wholesale tiered pricing? Of course there was no view other than the expected conventional comments by TW on this issue - there couldn't have been otherwise - but the issue is very real in the future and not just for Telstra Wholesale. The same issues would affect Optus Wholesale in terms of residential wired/fibred services and any smaller company that aspired to wholesale residential services. I made the blatantly obvious point that when a wholesaler (such as Telstra) announces that it is prepared to forgo a billion dollars of profit in one financial year to "win back market share" what is that expressing for its belief that wholesale customers play any part in its future? By the way I'm not, for one moment, expressing the view that wholesale should not play any part in Telstra's 'NBN2' future but the federal government has committed itself to becoming the 'new Telstra' as far as residential services are concerned; and maybe as far as SME services are concerned. I don't think it would be very sensible for Exetel to plan on any wholesale future with Telstra at a residential or SME level but then my thinking is seldom even tangentially similar to 'main stream' thinking in this industry. We wil look at TW's new proposals regarding various services positively (as we always do for any supplier) and hopefully their interests and our interests will coincide well enough for positive outcomes to be achieved on several 'fronts'. What is very clear to me is that 'support' (in new meanings of that word) is going to be far more important in a government dominated communications industry than it ever has been in the past. It maybe fortunate for our small company that we began planning and implementing for that four years ago.....or maybe that was just happenstance rather than foresight. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2010 Trackbacks
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What are you referring to in "the closing of iinet's corporate mouth"?
Comment (1)
The lack of gratuitously pontifical statements emanating from their CEO - presumably he is occupied with other more important things - like stemming the churn aways of the customers he keeps borrowing money to buy and then losing.
Comments (4)
Do you really think that telstra will not be a wholesale supplier in the future?
Comment (1)
I think it's entirely possible at some future time but I have no real view as it isn't relevant to 'now' decisions.
Does it make any sense to buy 'second hand' from a government monopoly when you can buy first hand? Only if TW had significant value adds to the base 'pipe'. The trouble with the ghost of Telstra Past is that any 'value add' came at an unaffordable cost.....even the base 'pipe' came at a pretty unaffordable cost on occasions. Comments (4)
I'm pretty sure there are things going on that I (and probably most) people don't know about. Do we know the content of the possible deal between NBN & Telstra? Is it the reason Telstra is going for more market share now? Perhaps it might recoup more than the 1 Billion in spending through that deal alone. Might copper be a competing technology to NBN?
The answer to this last question is indeed interesting as it has potential to turn into a political issue. Buying "second hand" may indeed be interesting. If Telstra gets preferential pricing it could be cheaper. It might also provide a better provisioning system. Comment (1)
Do we know the content of the possible deal between NBN & Telstra?
I suspect they're looking at a very simple... "the more customers you have, the bigger the discount you get" type of deal. (among other things) Is it the reason Telstra is going for more market share now? My guess would be.. yes. Comment (1)
That's what I have suspected. I am also unclear as to what it means for wholesale customers -- are they "still TW" customers whom will be moved across just like other Telstra customers? Will TW continue to bill it's wholesale customers regardless of the end use infrastructure?
These are the kinds of questions that really need answers. Comments (2)
Hi John,
I've been looking from the outside now for a few months after joining Bigpond. If I may be allowed to offer some input from the darkside - I never had any problems with Exetel offerings , other than the frequency of changes you were making virtually monthly and sometimes weekly. If I may play the devil’s advocate here -- I was always happy to stay on the plan I had chosen, but too frequently Exetel wanted me to change my plans because you felt they were not profitable. After two plans changes forced upon me, i choose to take a lockin 24 month plan at a price i was happy to pay with Telstra. Basically I just wanted continuity in my internet supply. I’m sure Exetel would benefit from raising the contract period and offering a good deal. It’s a win / win for customers and Exetel -- you've tried everything else for ADSL -- Give it a go . John , your always looking for answers, for innovative products to offer but haven’t tried 24month contracts. You have pretty much tried everything else, are you not see the forest because of all the trees. Cheers bill Comment (1)
We have a very different raison d'etre than Telstra and could not possibly do what a company like that does -what would be the point?
Among the things that are simply incompatible with a fast moving technology market place is a 24 month contract - it would be truly stupid to think that things in November 2012 would look ANYTHING like they do today. By the way, how do you read this blog if you are no longer an Exetel customer? Comments (4)
Doesn't the donation option still exist? Perhaps that is how.....
Comments (2)
I've just ported my mobile service from Exetel to Telstra (Changing jobs so needed to buy my own handset, $49 per month for 2 years suited me better than $880 up front, no tethering and paying for a new SIM.
I still have an ADSL service with Exetel, but I'd agree that the worst thing about Exetel is the constant plan changes. A lot of people don't care that much about $5 a month. It only has to be cheap enough. The best thing is without doubt the call centre. Answer fast, helpful, know the product, can action things and always follow through with what they say. I've been with Telstra 3 days, they're 0/5 on that score sheet. Please start selling your call centre as an outsourcing solution. If I ever leave Exetel completely I'll donate to be able to read the blog. Comment (1)
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