Turned on to the wireless to beat unbundling delays

Martin Wylie

It's ironic that as Telecom prepares to share its copper wires with competing internet providers, some of the company's most vociferous rivals have thrown themselves into projects to build or expand their own networks.

One alternative network builder is CallPlus, headed by Martin Wylie. CallPlus says it has the financial backing to build a $200 million to $300 million nationwide WiMax network, bypassing Telecom's infrastructure to offer internet and phone services.

Wylie, himself a former senior Telecom man, says CallPlus "gave up in despair" waiting for the local loop to be unbundled - a decision the Government finally took in May.

"We'd been singing the same mantra for years and beginning to think it would never happen," he says.

"Eighteen months ago I had been saying, and others had been saying, well, bugger you then, we'll just go out and build our own network."

Despite the Government's subsequent foot-stomping, Wylie is convinced CallPlus' decision to launch its own network was the correct one.

"It could be two to three years [before local loop unbundling takes effect] but if you follow the Australian example it's probably more like five or six year before it's actually available. Well, we can't sit around for two, or six, years waiting for a deal on reasonable terms."

Wylie is a lawyer who was Telecom's company secretary and general counsel between 1987 and 1996. Since then he has done stints at ihug, Simpson Grierson, Aetna Healthcare and consulted on telecommunications restructuring in Lesotho for the World Bank.

He says his time at Telecom, where he worked with CallPlus co-founder Malcolm Dick, gave him a grounding in and passion for telecommunications. "It's where I learned what an exciting and dynamic business it is - which is why I've tended to come back to it at every opportunity."

These days he is vocally cynical about his former employer's ability to change and embrace the new regulatory environment.

"I would have expected it to have lost that monopolistic and pervasive influence but clearly it has not, which is why the Government has finally woken up and said we've got to re-regulate it. Telecom has brought this plague on itself."

The nature of Wylie's post-Telecom roles have given him a reputation as a change management specialist, although he says it is not a niche he has deliberately pursued.

"I get into organisations that are either in need of change or in the process of change. That's just the way it's happens. It's meant that that's where my skill set has gravitated to."

CallPlus falls into that change category only because "there's a huge amount going on", he says.

"[CallPlus subsidiary] Slingshot, for example, doubled in size in the past 12 months. That's a fair amount of change because you go from being a small company to a medium sized company in 12 months. And you take on things like helping to get the regulatory environment changed, and launching a nationwide leading-edge wireless network."

After 18 months with CallPlus, Wylie says he has not given himself a deadline in the job, although he believes chief executives should move on after three to five years.


MARTIN WYLIE

Who: Chief executive of internet service provider CallPlus.

Favourite gadget: "I'm a bit eclectic. My current one is my i-mate [smartphone]. I find that a very cool little device. I gravitated from a Palm to an i-mate and am finding the size and convenience of that quite fascinating."

Next big thing: "I'm convinced it's wireless - it's going to be all-pervasive in telecommunications."

Alternative career: "I regret not training as an engineer. It's just such a great basic training. If you're running a telco [law and engineering] would be a killer combination."

Spare time: Family (two adult children and two younger ones), reading, drinking and collecting wine.

Favourite sci-fi movie: The earlier Star Wars films.