Bevan Slattery
Superloop founder Bevan Slattery has flagged his intention to retire as the publicly listed fibre network operator’s chair, citing his desire to pursue “nationally significant projects”.
In a statement released lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the company stated that Slattery would step down from its board at the conclusion of the network operator’s upcoming annual general meeting, which is scheduled for 28 October.
Despite retiring from the board, Slattery intends to continue being a major shareholder of the company.
“There are a few nationally significant projects which I need to dedicate more attention to, and my stepping down from chair allows me the time to pursue these with more vigour, while remaining a major shareholder,” he said.
In his place will be amaysim co-founder and Optus founding member Peter O’Connell, who is to take up the reins from 2 November, after being with amaysim for eight years up until June 2021.
Credit: Superloop "This is a tremendously exciting time and opportunity for Superloop. Under Bevan's chairmanship and the efforts of the new management team led by [managing director and CEO] Paul Tyler, Superloop has built a reputation for strong customer growth across all segments, built on its world-class digital infrastructure, and an executive team focused on quality execution,” O'Connell said.
"Superloop is now positioned very well to accelerate customer growth and asset utilisation. I look forward to working with my fellow directors, the executive team and the employees of Superloop to make a real difference in the Australian telco market."
In addition, O’Connell has also held senior executive and board roles with Optus, BellSouth and Padua, as well as Ireland-based telcos Eircom and Meteor.
Slattery voiced his approval of O’Connell, saying he was delighted with the appointment.
“Peter is an entrepreneur in his own right, co-founding amaysim, and has deep experience in branding, marketing, legal, regulatory, corporate governance and culture over his 30 years in our industry,” he said.
Tyler was also supportive of O’Connell, claiming his previous experience will be “invaluable” to the network operator.
"In particular, his experience in the consumer telco space balances the board's existing strong experience in the business and wholesale markets, which is further emphasised with our migration of Exetel's customers to the Superloop network ahead of schedule,” he said.
"Together, these create the foundations for growth. Peter's appointment will, we are confident, continue to accelerate Superloop's customer acquisition on our world-class, digital-first, high-speed fibre infrastructure," Tyler added.
That migration came as part of an acquisition of Exetel for a total of $110 million in June, which Tyler said at the time would add “significant scale to grow”.
During Superloop’s financial results for the year ending 30 June, the network operator posted a net loss of $32 million but saw total and revenue and pre-tax earnings up by 2.9 per cent and 35 per cent to $110.7 million and $18.2 million, respectively.
