Take the pending brand change for Telecom, which becomes Spark next month.
"It's a decision that's attracted its knockers, but then New Zealand has its share of those."
The criticism does not faze him because he's been there before.
After getting his degree in electrical engineering, Mr Moutter worked for the Ministry of Energy but quickly set up his own consulting and contracting business in New Plymouth. That led to him managing the New Plymouth power station and New Plymouth Energy, which morphed into Taranaki Energy.
The last step in that journey came when he convinced the board to create Powerco, a decision that involved the merger with the Wanganui-Rangitikei Electric Power Board.
Mr Moutter said he put seven years of his life into Powerco and only left in 1999 when the Government decided to break up the energy companies into line companies, retailers and generators.
From there, he moved to Telecom and became chief operation officer before taking on the chief executive's role with the Auckland Airport company.
The fragmentation of the power industry at the time disappointed him.
"It was an unhappy ending for what we'd strived to do," he said.
"But for all CEOs there are moments to carry on and then there are times to move on and let someone else take over. That was my time."
As CEO of Telecom, he is paid a $1.3 million salary plus performance incentives. He oversees a $5 billion company that employs about 8000 staff and has a sea of shareholders.
Although he's confident and comfortable in his role, he says it has had its moments.
"From 2005-12, it was subject to similar things that happened to the power industry with incredible structural change. And there was unbelievable technology arriving. They were incredible forces acting on the business.
"But it's a very invigorating and intellectually challenging environment to be in. You go to work every day knowing you're going to a job that is incredibly meaningful for New Zealanders."
Mr Moutter said there was a massive demand for everything new, and currently that is gigabytes.
"We're talking growth close to 100 per cent a year for the last 10 years, which drives huge investment and short life-cycles in the technology itself. And with it, a consumer expectation that prices should fall equally fast," he said.
"A $45 mobile plan would have cost $825 five years ago. Our $19 pre-paid mobile plan today would have cost $360 five years ago. And a typical consumer broadband package today, at $75 for 40 gigabytes, five years ago would have cost $1000 a month."
He said technology had closed geographic gaps around the country and continued to do so.
Because Telecom served most businesses, he said it could get a good handle on the health of the economy, and at the moment things were "pretty good".
"We can tell when their heads are down or when their eyes are up and it's eyes up at the moment. They're willing to invest and New Zealand businesses are in good heart."
Closer to home, Mr Moutter has some opinions on technology and how Wanganui could benefit. But at the same time he warned the rollout of ultra-fast broadband (UFB) should not be regarded as the silver bullet that will revitalise the region's flagging economy.
"There's a misconception in some communities who think if they wire up for broadband they can have a competitive advantage. But it's not the case. Broadband or a good mobile is a ticket to play in the game," he said.
"The issue that defines the success or otherwise of communities is more about how they cluster around innovation or build off the advantage of their strengths already there.
"A city like Wanganui has to look for things that are different and give you an advantage. That's the key. It's about attracting the right innovators, the risk capital needed to support that, and then attract people who are truly online and internet savvy," he said.
Mr Moutter said by 2019 all cities in New Zealand of similar size to Wanganui would have UFB, "so it's not a competitive advantage".
"You want to be there, but having UFB doesn't position you as having something superior. It's about what you use it for. That's where the potential lies."
He said the regional growth study launched a fortnight ago highlighted the potential of growing Wanganui's agri-business through what he called "digitisation" of the industry.
"You can point to a few maverick farmers who have embraced digital, which a few years ago was not economically feasible but is very inexpensive today.
"You can run a farm that has wireless connectivity all over it. It can put sensors all over the farm and even inside the animals, monitoring absolutely everything to optimise production.
"There's no reason why Wanganui can't be a leader in that sort of on-farm development, but it takes a combined effort to make it work. You've got the capability, you have compelling need and the business case is strong."
