MEDIA RELEASE
8 April 2012
New Digital Ventures initiative launched by Telecom
Telecom announced today the formation of a new Digital Ventures team to focus on high potential growth opportunities in
a controlled ‘incubator’ type setting. The initiative is part of Telecom’s reshaping of the business around the
realities of fast changing industry and consumer dynamics.
The Telecom Digital Ventures team will be focused on developing and growing new businesses and services to add value to
existing offerings, build new revenue streams and generate commercial returns from them.
Simon Moutter, Chief Executive of Telecom, said, “As we have previously announced, Telecom is making a strategic shift
to a future oriented, competitive provider of communications, entertainment and IT services over our networks and the
Cloud. It won’t be enough for us to become just cost competitive, we also need to identify future revenue generating
opportunities that are arising in a rapidly changing world. Telecom Digital Ventures is an important step along the
way.”
Telecom Digital Ventures will be headed up by Rod Snodgrass, who has been Chief Product Officer at Telecom for the last
two years. Rod’s responsibilities with existing products have been devolved into other parts of the organisation.
Telecom Digital Ventures is structured to be relatively small scale, agile, highly innovative and with a greater
propensity for partnering and forming alliances to address new markets and opportunities and build new businesses and
services. This will allow potential new businesses and products to be tested and developed with modest levels of
investment and risk. In keeping with the incubator-style philosophy, as successful new activities developed in the
Digital Ventures team grow and mature they will most likely rejoin Telecom’s core business units or may become
businesses in their own right.
Rod Snodgrass said, “In recent years there has been explosive growth in consumer demand for data and information and
entertainment services, anywhere, anytime. And these data and mobility mega trends are only going to continue as a
digital life becomes a reality. While these trends carry challenges, they also point towards potential and emerging
business growth opportunities.
“While we are still in the early stages of developing the Telecom Digital Venture plan of attack it is already clear
where we need to focus. These include some product initiatives we have underway, such as Financial Services including
our existing NFC and m-Wallet initiatives, Big Data and Advertising, OTT Services including Entertainment and Home
Management as examples, e-verticals such as e-health and e-learning and applications development.”
- ENDS –