Phillip Britt has resigned from Aussie Broadband’s board, bringing to an end his formal influence over the company he co-founded and an era that lasted nearly 18 years.
The telco announced today that Britt had retired from the board effective today and that it had also terminated an agreement with him from a year ago to provide technical advice to the challenger internet provider.
Britt has been funding and establishing a wholesale fibre outfit in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Rural Fibre Co.
Aussie Broadband cited Britt’s plan to “expand the scope” of Rural Fibre Co for the timing of his departure.
Britt declined to provide details of the new plan when contacted by iTnews for comment.
“Whilst we are not able to go into any level of detail, we can also say that Rural Fibre Co is considering a number of opportunities that have arisen over the last few months,” Britt said.
However, he did reveal that the fledgling telco is poised to complete its first fibre rollout in Gippsland’s Hazelwood North area and that it would commence its second at Traralgon West “in the next week or so”.
Britt launched Rural Fibre Co in January last year, at the time revealing that he had invested $10 million in the new venture which is focused on regions underserved for broadband.
The broadband wholesaler is yet to attract any retail ISP customers, but it has established its own retail arm, Splice Internet.
It’s understood that Splice has around 200 customers in the Gippsland region and will need to be structurally separated from its parent once it achieves a certain scale of customer base.
Meanwhile, pushed along by strategic acquisitions, Aussie Broadband has steadily increased its share of the NBN market.
Last month it revised its strategic ambition for 2028 upward to have 1.5 million NBN broadband customers. That would be a half-a-million more than initially projected and translate to a 17 percent share of the NBN market.
Most recently, Aussie Broadband has entered an agreement to acquire AGL’s retail telco arm, AGL Telco, in a scrip deal valued at up to $125 million.
The deal will see 350,000 AGL Telco customers move to Aussie’s network, growing its broadband base to 1.25 million connections and its mobile subscribers to 400,000.
“The company has reached milestones I could only ever dream of – Aussie Broadband has become a leading challenger to the incumbents and the most trusted telco for five years running,” Britt said.
“The future is bright with Aussie and, in the capable hands of an experienced leadership team and board, will continue to reach new milestones.
“As a shareholder, I look forward to watching the company’s continued success well into the future.”
Aussie Broadband chair Adrian Fitzpatrick wished Britt well with Rural Fibre Co.
“Phil has been an instrumental part of the Aussie Broadband story, and as a co-founder will always have a special connection to the company,” Fitzpatrick said.
