KEY POINTS:
From wrangling kids in the classroom to cleaving up Telecom, the Telecommunications Carriers Forum's new head reckons he has got what it takes to unify the divergent demands of New Zealand's major telcos.
Inaugural chief executive of the forum - the industry body which brings together the major and minor telcos - Ralph Chivers takes over leadership on the back of a stellar year for the organisation.
"Some people say nothing much has changed but I beg to disagree. I think we're in a much better space than we have been for a long time in the industry," he said.
This wasn't the case when the TCF was established six years ago.
Chivers describes the environment then as litigious, confrontational and fractious.
Finalising a constitution took well over a hundred meetings and phone conferences.
However, a strategic review of the organisation in 2006 was a "watershed moment", he said.
At a time when it had very little to show for four years of operation, the TCF questioned its role and asked what it needed to do to make a serious difference in the industry.
Out of the review came the recognition that in order to develop the organisation needed a chief executive.
The past year has seen the forum working on introducing number portability and an independent dispute resolution service for customers as well as behind the scenes work on local loop unbundling and unbundled bitstream services.
The ability to play together nicely was recognised with an industry award from the Telecommunications Users Association.
"So now I've got the bloody lucky, fortunate opportunity of coming in right now at a time when that momentum's been built up, that credibility has been built up and taking it to the next stage of maturity, if you like," Chivers said.
The role will no doubt test his skills of diplomacy and negotiation built up over nearly 20 years in the telecommunications sector.
Completing an honours degree in electrical engineering in the mid-80s saw Chivers entering the workforce as Government privatisation saw engineering jobs evaporate.
Instead he headed for a stint at the chalkboard teaching secondary school maths and computer studies.
"There were times when I thought 'what the hell am I doing here?' but reflecting back on what I did subsequently I learnt some really valuable skills doing that," said Chivers.
Upon leaving the classroom, Chivers worked for the government on the allocation of radio spectrum in the early 90s before 10 years in the private sector with Telecom.
But for the past year he has been back in the public sector leading the Ministry of Economic Development team responsible for slicing and dicing Telecom into an operationally separate company.
As part of wider industry reforms introduced in 2006 Telecom was required to create operational divisions between its network, wholesale and retail businesses.
The intended outcome is for Telecom to not favour its own business over other companies when selling access to its network.
Chivers jumped at the chance to be involved.
"It was one of those once in a decade kind of projects. It was absolutely fundamental for the industry. It was probably the hardest job I ever had, I think, by a long shot. I lost the most sleep over that of any job I've ever had. But at a more fundamental level, probably the most satisfying job I've had as well and I'm pretty pleased at where we got to at the end of last year," he said
"Despite the industry context and despite the previous history between Telecom and the Government we ended up in a relatively much better space by the end of last year."
Chivers leaves the ministry with the final details of Telecom's separation plan still to be completed but feels satisfied that the majority of the difficult issues have been resolved.
He said sitting across the table from the telecommunications industry was a "brilliant entree" into his current job.
"It was a new experience for me actually, in the sense that everything we were doing was very, very public and with very public products with quite deeply vested interests in the outcome," said Chivers.
As chief executive of the TCF Chivers will oversee a continuation of work developing technical codes to support the Government's regulatory programme, particularly as Telecom begins work on its next generation fibre network.
But he would like the TCF to become a voice in wider policy debate and to address contentious industry issues before the Government steps in with regulation.
"In terms of getting ahead of the curve, that's quite a big area, quite an obvious one for us to get on top of and take some responsibility to start solving the issues," said Chivers.
"Because obviously if it gets 18 months down the track and the Government gets involved then we've lost 18 months."
By its very nature Chivers and the TCF will be playing in the space where the commercial interests of the telcos diverge.
"It's the kind of thing that could cause us to disintegrate and fall apart or, if we can get over that, be incredibly successful and add some serious value to the sector."
