WA Govt must invest in digital future to stop companies moving East, Pentanet founder says Caitlin ParoczaiThe West Australian
Sun, 13 February 2022 3:32PM Comments
Stephen Cornish, founder and managing director of Pentanet with staff. Credit: Ross Swanborough/The West Australian
The State Government will need to invest in digital resources if it wants to prevent Perth tech companies and talent from moving to the east coast, Pentanet founder and managing director Stephen Cornish says.
Mr Cornish — who founded the Perth-based 5G fixed-wireless network provider in 2017 — said the WA Government needed to be “swifter to the table” in recognising the challenges of tech businesses across the State.
“The big pressure for a company like ours is: when are you going over East? In order to stop that, we need State support to fund our requirements here,” he said.
“Not only to grow our industries and digitise Perth, but to retain the next generation of talent … we need companies for that talent to land and stay in our economy.”
Tech companies over East had a better chance at attracting WA talent due to their increased access to capital and prominent presence in the market, Mr Cornish said.
Mr Cornish said WA could become a leader in tech by getting involved with the “new resources sector”.
“I think a lot of it is going to be online with digital currency. (The State) could flourish by getting more involved with it,” he said.
For WA’s tech sector to thrive, it was crucial to have top-tier digital infrastructure, Mr Cornish said.
“Perth has its advantages, we’re in the same time zone as Asia … but to flourish, we need more connectivity,” he said.
“We’re seeing that people can operate remotely and a tech company can be anywhere in the world. But in order to have that, you need a very good digital infrastructure system.”
Registrations for Pentanet’s gigabit enabled mesh network neXus have exceeded 7200, while the number of beta play testers on its cloud-based game streaming service GeForce Now have jumped from 20,000 to 92,000 in less than four months.
Mr Cornish said Perth would likely not have had access to cloud gaming if Pentanet was not based in the State.
“If Pentanet didn’t exist, Perth wouldn’t have cloud gaming – it would have all just lived over East,” he said.
The business has plans to move into the metaverse by offering a frequent flyer-style reward system, where users can build digital currency and spend it within the ecosystem.
