TeamTalk gets a bargain

By PETER GRIFFIN

A South African company's collapse has proved a boon for mobile radio network operator TeamTalk, which has picked up $10 million worth of radio equipment for just under $1 million.

A chance meeting at a conference led TeamTalk to mobile radio network operator One2One which last year went into voluntary receivership, putting its assets up for sale.

As a result TeamTalk will this month receive a shipment of radio equipment allowing it to boost capacity on its two national radio networks, which are used for voice calling, data and telemetry services by clients such as Fonterra, Fulton Hogan and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

"It allows us to roll out some more cell sites without paying an arm and a leg," said TeamTalk's managing director and founder David Ware.

TeamTalk needed more capacity on its network to service customers sending increasingly large amounts of data around the country via mobile radio.

"The big advantage for us over the mobile operators is our rural coverage.

"But the cellular guys are always rolling out more cell sites so we have to keep up," said Ware.

TeamTalk turned a profit of $3.1 million in the year to June 30, 2002, and returned about half of it to shareholders in its first dividend payout.