NBN rival to create 150 jobs
Vocus founder James Spencley is investing in an emerging South Australian wireless internet company.
A multi-million dollar blockbuster deal featuring two Australian tech entrepreneurs will see South Australian wireless broadband firm Uniti push to take on 100,000 Australian customers by 2021, creating 150 jobs in the process.
The multi-million dollar investment by Vocus founder James Spenceley and serial entrepreneur Tony Grist — who founded Amcom which later merged with Vocus — will allow the Adelaide firm to expand its footprint outside of Melbourne and Adelaide and expand the team.
Vocus executive director James Spenceley said the investment was based on the success of the company’s rollout to date and the customer satisfaction of the existing users.
“The evolution of fixed wireless, to enable the delivery of 40mbps and 100mbps speeds to households, is one that surprises many people,” he said.
“The unequalled satisfaction of the Uniti users validates their model, and the feedback on the performance from users is simply astonishing. By owning the network end to end Uniti can deliver the performance people want, coupled with the ability to roll it out quickly.”
Uniti Wireless co-CEO and co-founder Sasha Baranikov said the company expects to create more than 150 jobs over the next five years as a result of the investment, and it will enable it to connect the waitlist of customers who have registered their interest on the company’s website.
She said the firm offers super fast fixed broadband connections to residents and businesses, delivered wirelessly, with speeds equal that of the NBN.
“The investment by James and Tony is recognition that Uniti’s product and fixed wireless technology has a strong future in Australia’s broadband market,” Barnikov said.
“The technology has evolved to a point where Uniti is now delivering a standard 40mbps high-speed internet service right up to 100mbps premium plan to households and businesses with minimal infrastructure requirements, and best of all, with reliability equivalent to typical fixed line services.”
Uniti co-CEO and co-founder Che Metcalfe said the firm doesn’t have to pay Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) charges, the scalable fee NBN charges for bandwidth.
“Uniti’s business model doesn’t have the CVC charges or a tax on usage that NBN retailers must wear, so there is no requirement for us to manage or limit usage,” Metcalfe said.
“As a result we can deliver the service (and speed) customers are so desperately seeking. And this is all available now, so consumers don’t have to wait years for infrastructure to arrive at their doorstep.
“This investment allows us to fulfil our aim of bridging the digital divide that Australians are experiencing.”
Metcalfe said Uniti is now seeking national registrations of interest from customers.
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