nice of colin to prop up the shareprice!, page-18

Quote:
'I wonder why this message wasn't released to the market? Surely it should be?'

I guess it’s more the sort of self promotion that appears in half yearly or yearly accounts statements but some of the information would surely help stop the price from continuing to fall. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the message but I can't see any harm in it (and I'm sure it will be quickly deleted if the PEO heirarchy don't like it being posted for all to see) so here it is:

Continued Organic Growth
People Telecom are proud to be at the beginning of a new phase of success. This is, and will continue to be, driven by our ability to develop sophisticated sales channels, whether it is a direct sales force in the capital cities or a substantial national Indirect Channel Program. This is evidenced in our recent half year result, where revenue grew 15.5% over the prior corresponding period to $55.5 million.

We focus on small to medium enterprise customers where our sophisticated service platforms deliver high service levels as evidenced by a number of recent awards.
Significant Recent Achievements Include
• The entering into a strategic alliance with Australia's Downer EDI and China's Huawei who jointly have been
chosen as the preferred vendor for the supply of People Telecom's modems and network equipment within its
national IP Network.
• A new agreement executed with Telstra Wholesale delivering substantial margin benefits for the balance of the
financial year.
• An agreement with NEC to gain access to Nextep's DSLAM network enabling the group to roll out second
generation broadband services and business grade IP services in 2006, increasing its margins on these products.
• Winning a contract to provide data co-location services and domestic voice telecom services to AT&T Inc., the
largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world.
• Strong Cash Collections over the recent half financial year of $60 million, an increase of 23% over the prior
corresponding period
• A gross margin of 23% that will be maintained in the second half of this financial year
• Heavy investment in sales in the first half that will be evident in revenue in the 2006 calendar year
• In addition, a significant cost reduction program was completed in December, the benefits of which will be reflected in the results of the second half of this financial year

Operational Review

The People Telecom group will continue our drive for organic growth mainly from the small to medium business sector. We will also consider growth by acquisitions when appropriate opportunities arise.

Growth in customer numbers continues in all product lines - fixed voice, mobile and data (including VoIP) with sales being delivered by its 46 strong sales team in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne and over 100 contracted within its national indirect sales channels. Sales have jumped as a result of significant further investment in sales teams which will see a growing effectiveness.

At present we are pleased to report
• 1,500 broadband applications now signed per
month
• 1,000 business accounts signed each month for
voice
• 600 business mobiles signed each month
• Customers are contracted for a minimum of 12 months with 55% contracted for 24 months or longer.

Segment Review
Revenue by segment demonstrates the company's ability to manage and deliver effective national sales channels.
Mobile revenue grew 29% to S10.1 million with the monthly average revenue per user of $99. Business mobile customer numbers grew to a total of 16,000 in the half. The roll out of mobile data started later in the period with these new products expected to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) in the next financial year.

Fixed Wire revenue grew 20% to $33.1 million over the period with the more profitable products such as inbound and outbound long distance increasing with the higher sales volumes. Business grade voice over internet (VoIP) is now part of our product offerings and revenue from this source will grow in the future.

Data revenue reduced marginally by 3% to $12.4 million. This was adversely impacted by ADSL revenue which fell by $0.9m (9%) as a result of the market moving towards free or subsidised connections. This has reduced our non recurring revenues in data while total ADSL tails in use has increased to 34,000 in the half.

Business grade data revenue continues to climb due to strong demand in business grade IP Virtual Private Networks.

In particular, co-location and fibre sales have driven up corporate data revenue in the half. In addition, the company's data centre offering co-location, backup and other services is reaching capacity and is to be expanded in the coming months.

Looking Ahead
The core focus of our business will continue to be small to medium enterprise customers who receive great benefit from our sophisticated service platforms. Heavy investment has been made in our sales teams which will now be evidenced in our results. Strong cash collections and cost reduction programs ensure that People Telecom will continue to be an exciting player in the telecommunications market.