John Linton ....almost to the day, we decided to start a business providing communications services to residential and business users.
At that time Telstra totally dominated that business and, apart from mobile telephone services, had no competition of any size or sort making it relatively easy to find a 'niche' marketplace from which to begin to grow a viable business. At that time, or very shortly thereafter, some 1,000 other people had similar ideas and, at least according to the ABS the reselling of Telstra ADSL infrastructure based services was booming all over the country creating miniscule/tiny/very small 'competitors' to Telstra. It is hard to know how many of those tiny companies started up and then closed their doors - but it would be a large number well in excess of 99% I would have thought....but I don't really know nor do I have any data on which to base that assessment other than observationally. But as I write the final 'text' describing Exetel's new targets and aspirations for the 2012 calendar year I am reminded just how very different they are to what I wrote eight years ago at about this November day.
In revenue dollar terms, we haven't come that far (revenues for Exetel are obviously far greater than the zero we had at this time in 2003 but in the scheme of the telecommunications industry they remain miniscule) and we are still an insignificant company by all measures except to our customers. The fact that we have survived at all when so many other companies that started before us and after us have disappeared is, possibly, the only notable achievement we can point to....if we were the notable achievement pointing to type of people - which I don't think we are. I am happy that we have more customers today than we had in November 2003 (none) and I am, personally, very happy that some of the first customers we had mid February 2004 are still with us. Doubtless other communications providers could also claim that 'distinction'. Quite possibly Telstra can claim to have had many customers for over 100 years - if for no other reason than those customers have never had any choice as to which company provided their wire line communication services.
Practically every aspect of that start up business has changed not least that we now have almost 150 employees (whom we pay) as opposed to the three directors who worked for nothing for the first few months of Exetel's 'life'. We also have business premises in two cities in two countries rather than the spare bedroom in our Sydney home crammed with three computers, three telephones a fax machine and a printer by the time we abandoned it for sub let rental premises from a decidedly dodgy 'land lord' from whom we had to 'escape' shortly before his 'stand over' father was shot dead in his last 'stand over' assignment outside a NSW country town. We now have 13 PoPs with over $3 million dollars worth of equipment in every State of Australia plus New Zealand and Colombo compared to the $50 thousand dollars of equipment in one rented rack in Sydney's Clarence Street. Those are the most obvious signs of development over the past eight years....as I write new budget figures for capital expenditure and reference spread sheets detailing the rapidly growing expenses for personnel acquisition and development costs.
So much has changed over the past eight years that the Exetel of today, even in its minor ways, is totally different to the start up Exetel there seems to be no point of similarity. Fortunately, in terms of the true bases of the business, nothing has changed. We remain totally different to every other company with which we compete in every aspect of WHY we are in business and what we are seeking to achieve by setting up and operating a commercial business in Australia that puts the interests of its customers, its employees and the good of the countries in which it operates ahead, well ahead, of profit making (and that s one thing we have been spectacularly successful in achieving) or other 'standard commercial interests'.
We are still setting aside a very large proportion of any small profit we earn to attempt to protect endangered fauna, avia and flora. We still aim to provide communication services to businesses and residential users a lower prices than any other provider without compromising on speed or quality. We still provide all of our employees with a 'no fire' policy which we have only had to breach some three times in eight years.....and only under extreme 'provocation'. So many parts of the 'text' of the 2012 operating plan are eerily similar to the words I wrote at this time in 2003. Either those objectives have stood the test of eight very difficult years, with the last three years being almost impossibly difficult, or there is no fool like an old fool.
Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011
ABN 350 979 865 46