2Degrees co-founder takes aim at rivals

Tex Edwards. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Chief executives need to be prepared for tough questions and in the telecommunications business, Tex Edwards is renowned for calling industry leaders to account.

Edwards, the co-founder of challenger mobile network operator 2degrees, has been an indefatigable thorn in the side of the established telco players for almost a decade and seldom misses a public opportunity to take a stab at his company's rivals.

When Telecom boss Paul Reynolds and Vodafone head Russell Stanners shared a stage at the annual Telecommunications and ICT Summit this week, Edwards was ready with some polite but cutting salvos delivered at question time.

Edwards' question to Reynolds: Did Telecom choose to shoot its television advertisements featuring a fly-fishing Reynolds in the South Island because its market share in the pre-paid mobile phone sector was low in Auckland? Reynolds agreed Telecom's pre-paid mobile market share was lower than he would like in Auckland, but said it was growing.

"The issue of where to shoot the ad took some real soul-searching. I had to think long and hard about where my favourite fishing spot was," he said.

"There were some North Island options but Lake Wakatipu and down that way is just God's own country and we really had a lot of fun doing it."

From Stanners, Edwards wanted to know why a former Vodafone NZ boss, Graham Maher, who moved into overseas roles with the telco, was now thanking the King of Qatar "for regulatory intervention" in that market. While working for Vodafone in New Zealand, Maher had asked the New Zealand Government to stay out of regulating the industry here, Edwards said.

Unfazed by a question that was almost certainly unanticipated, Stanners was quick to reply that in Qatar the King actually owned the local Vodafone business.

"So anything to do with regulation is like, you know, the King and Queen sitting around the table having fun."

Seemingly happy with the response, Edwards offered his congratulations to Vodafone's Qatar business, which he said had picked up 26 per cent market share during its first year in operation.

"Just about as good as yours, Tex," Stanners replied, referring to 2degrees performance in the local market since its launch last year.