iiNet eyes mobile market

The chief executive of iiNet, David Buckingham, has put his first stamp on the company in its post Michael Malone-era, launching a bid for the Perth telco to become a serious player in the mobile phone market.

Speaking at yesterday's annual general meeting, Mr Buckingham revealed the $1.35 billion company would launch its first stand-alone mobile plans later this month as it looks at ways to continue its rapid growth.

Addressing shareholders on the same day iiNet shares hit a new all-time high, Mr Buckingham said the telco had been looking at the economics behind a stand-alone mobile service - similar to plans offered by Telstra or Optus - for two years.

The company has 156,000 mobile customers who use the service as part of a broadband connection "bundle".

Mr Buckingham admitted iiNet's mobile expansion had "an arm and a leg" tied behind its back because it had no mobile network - it rents Optus' mobile network and has no plans to invest in that infrastructure - but he believed the company could push into the million-customer realm through brand loyalty and recognition.

"We have 950,000 customers, and there must be at least two mobiles in each house, so you've got to think about that scale and opportunity," he said.

"Mobile competition is ferocious between the big three suppliers. And I won't kid myself (to challenge the big three). But they (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) are typically scrapping over the real high-value customers, and we've positioned ourselves to offer choice such as a real low-end sim with a high-end handset."

The telco has been searching for new forms of organic growth and Mr Buckingham, who has now been in the top role for 12 months, also highlighted its moves into the connected home, the NBN and business realm as future growth drivers.

He also ruled out any late play for Perth takeover target Amcom, saying Amcom's infrastructure focus was outside iiNet's core business.

Amcom holds its AGM today.