Ann: ADDRESS: TTK: Managing Director's Addres

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• Summary: ADDRESS: TTK: Managing Director's Address to Annual Meeting
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					TTK
17/10/2013 11:52
ADDRESS

REL: 1152 HRS TeamTalk Limited

ADDRESS: TTK: Managing Director's Address to Annual Meeting

The following is the transcript of the address made by TeamTalk Managing
Director David Ware to this year's Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Hi,

It's great to see so many familiar faces here again, welcome back.  If this
is your first TeamTalk AGM thanks for coming along - we really do appreciate
your input.  I need to explain to you that we're a little less formal than
most public companies. Every year we invite a bunch of the team to sit in
with us.  I figure that it's good for the guys to get know who they are
working for and so hopefully you have time to stay for a drink at the end and
tell them what you think of our company.

Anyway over the years a number of you have got to know us pretty well; so
before I get into the formal bit, I'll tell you about some of the staff
comings and goings. There's a bunch of new managers on board and I'll tell
you more about that later.  There are also a few people who have left.
Russell Kelling one of our finance guys isn't here - you may recall Russell
that bounced back from throat cancer a year or so ago. Well, Russell decided
that the rough and tumble of life at TeamTalk was no longer for him so he
resigned - we all wish him well for the next phase of his career.  You may
also remember Jason.  Jason's the big tall guy who helped Miss Kylie on the
registration desk.  Well; unfortunately Jason is alleged to have committed a
fraud against the company.  He worked with us for ten years and in all other
respects he was a good guy but I couldn't let that go, so he was fired, the
police were informed and charges have been laid.  On a brighter note Bruce
Harding has retired after nearly 50 years in the industry.  Of course
retirement is no excuse to stop working so we've lured him back as a part
time Consultant.  And I should add it's great to see you here Bruce in your
capacity as a Shareholder.  There are also members of the Farmside Board
here.  Each of our subsidiary companies has its own board and Reg Barrett and
Derek Locke are Independent Directors on the Farmside Board.

Before I get down to business I've got tell you - I've got the best job in
telecommunications and that's because TeamTalk is always doing exciting
things like providing satellite comms for a Mobile Breast Screening Unit in
Northland, or comms for the around Taupo Cycling Challenge, we are also
helping GNS monitor bridges in Canterbury after the earthquake and we're
working with MBIE to put broadband into Haast for the first time.  We're also
doing world leading stuff, the leading edge R+D in the broadband space, it's
stuff called Software Defined Networks and CityLink is right at the forefront
we've got computer scientists from all over the world looking at what we are
doing- it's that advanced.

Anyway; enough of me rambling lets get down to business.  I'm going to talk
about three things today, firstly I will tell you  what's been happening with
your business over the last year - now this is important because we've made
some major changes to the Company and we've really set it up for the future,
then I'm going to discuss the overall Telecommunications Industry - as you
will have seen from the press there is a lot of uncertainty within the
Industry at the moment.  I'm going to unravel  some of that and tell you what
it means for TeamTalk and then finally I'll tell you where the Company is
going.

So in the last year there were two major changes at TeamTalk, we bought
Farmside last December and we've put in place a top notch management team.
Farmside is NZ's specialist rural ISP and it gives us that all important
third leg to our business.  I have to say it's been a bit like buying a house
- after living in it for a few months we discovered that there were a few
things we needed to renovate.  So I've swapped out the management team for a
new one and we're stepping up the customer service to a level that you would
expect from a TeamTalk Company.  Farmside is a great little business and it's
going to be a big part of our future, so its important that I take the time
now to sort out the foundations.  Like any renovation project these things
always take a little longer than you expect but I have to say that its worth
putting the effort in up front, I'm happy with Farmside and I'm confident
that it will play a big part in our future.

The other big change we have made is to strengthen our Executive Team.
Acquiring Farmside tipped the balance, we are no longer a small business, we
are now a medium size business and as a medium sized business we needed to
put in place the appropriate structures, processes and people if we are to
continue to grow the business.

After twenty years I've stepped away from day to day management of the Mobile
Radio Operation and I've handed responsibility over to Peter Baines.  Peter
is an ex Tait executive who had been doing entrepreneurial stuff in the
mobile radio space in Australia.  Nick Willis is now looking after CityLink,
after stints with Vodafone and Deloitte.  He also did the entrepreneurial
thing before joining us.  Peter Roborgh - who is not here today, is now
running Farmside - he's a battle hardened executive who has run a number of
businesses in the Electricity and Telco sectors.  To complement the team
we've added a Chief Technology Officer - Jamie Baddeley.  Jamie's job is to
stitch together all of our technologies and hunt out new ones that we can
turn into revenue streams. And of course we've still got Geoff who continues
to do a great job of managing our dollars.  I've got to say this is a serious
heavyweight team and one that I have enormous confidence in.

So that's our business.  We have a new management team that's getting its
feet under the table as we speak and we have a great new acquisition that we
are renovating as fast as we can.  All in all I'm pretty happy with where we
are at - there is no question we have more fire power and capability than we
have ever had before, and are more resilient than we have been before and as
my daughter would say; "We are in a happy place".

Ok; now let's take a look at where the telecommunications industry is at.  If
I had to sum it up with a word that word would be uncertainty. And for a
company like ours uncertainty is a good thing. For the industry as a whole
its bad but for TeamTalk its good - that's because we're smart and we can
move fast.

This uncertainty permeates the entire industry at the moment.  Let me give
you a few examples.  The government's policy is to promote competition
throughout the industry - but in practice all they want to do is promote
fibre optics and screw the rest.  The "Axe the Copper Tax" campaign, that I
am sure you have heard about is a side effect of that; on one side you have
the companies that have invested in fibre and on the other side you have the
guys who followed the government's old policy and invested in the electronics
that make copper work. Both sides are trying to buy as many allies as they
can and they're both throwing what we call "FUD" about. There will be winners
and losers, at TeamTalk we're on the sidelines on this one we're not too
fussed about what the outcome is.

There is also uncertainty around how the government is planning to fund
remote rural telecommunications -  this has the potential to benefit
TeamTalk.  And on top of that there is a review of the whole
Telecommunications Act coming up and who knows where that might lead.

The trick for us is to wait until the spinning slows and then pounce.  We're
small, we're nimble and we've got the smartest kids in the room, so we should
be able to beat everyone else to the punch.  The trick is to wait for the
right moment and then move fast.

So that's were we've been and that's the environment that we are operating
in, lets take a look at where we are going.

First up we're sticking to our knitting - we're not changing our business
model. We're all about acquiring and operating niche telecommunications
business.  What sets us apart is the way that we run these businesses. We
run them as stand alone operations which are totally focused on their
individual customer segments.  Everything is lined up behind the customers,
the products, our service, our people, even the culture of the businesses -
it's all based on the customers, and because of this we are more focused and
more responsive than anyone else.

My immediate priority is to continue blooding in our management team and to
finish off the renovations at Farmside.  Alongside that we've got some
product development work to do at CityLink.  CityLink is New Zealand's most
advanced broadband company but over the last couple of years we haven't
launched many new services - that's going to change.  And in Mobile Radio
world our customers are increasingly asking us to solve their business
problems rather than just selling them airtime.  So you can see there are a
lot of opportunities out there and we're really enjoying getting in amongst
them.

So what does all of this mean for you guys - well don't expect any hockey
stick growth curve or any massive increase in customer numbers but what you
can expect is for us to keep pumping out those dividends in much the same way
as we have over the last 10 years - thank you.

-----------ENDS----------

For more information please contact

David Ware, TeamTalk
0800 101-900
End CA:00242500 For:TTK    Type:ADDRESS    Time:2013-10-17 11:52:33