COMindico was an Australian IP
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
carrier. It started as IPTel in 2000 by
Wayne Passlow with the backing of
AGL,
AMP #REDIRECT Amp
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,
JPMorganChase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...
,
James Packer
James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer , a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer . He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer. He inherited control ...
(CPH) and
Lachlan Murdoch (Queensland Press). The COMindico name came from the Latin Indico coupled with COM to represent communications.
COMindico built a 100%
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
-powered IP/MPLS network with
SS7 interconnects to Telstra from its 66 POPs situated in each of Telstra's call collection zones, allowing VoIP and internet access to over 97% of Australians. It was the largest rollout of Cisco's
MGCP technology in the world at the time.
The business was started as wholesale only and then included selling directly to corporates.
In late 2001, the company had spent most of its initial funding and the business model was not delivering to initial investor expectations. In January 2002, The Board replaced the Chair and a number of the senior management and appointed John Stuckey as CEO, with a mandate to repurpose the business model. Stuckey and his team were able to secure a $65 million (AUD) permanent suspense of the hardware debt to CISCO, requiring the existing shareholders funding the business turnaround. AGL, JPMorgan and AMP participated in raising half the required funds and CISCO agreed to the debt suspension on a half now half later agreement.
Thanks to the support of a number of wholesale clients, like Larrry Kestleman's Dodo, and a number of fast growing ISP's, Comindico reached profitability in early 2004. Cisco now approached the Board seeking the additional half of the 2002 agreed funding investment to pursue their edge technology using Comidico's network. The Board (AMP, JPMorgan and AGL representatives) formed a view the business could manage without the additional funds, appointed a new management team, sent Stuckey on gardening leave and commenced brinkmanship with CISCO.
In July 2004, Cisco (the largest creditor) placed the business into receivership.
Later in 2004, SP Telemedia (now
Soul Australia) acquired COMindico. In April 2008, TPG acquired Soul Australia in a reverse takeover.
References
{{reflist
Defunct telecommunications companies of Australia