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https://thewest.com.au/business/sta...r-pentanet-bet-big-on-start-up-ng-b881743903z

Founder of WA internet provider Pentanet bet big on start-up

Sean SmithThe West Australian
Fri, 11 December 2020 7:06PM
Sean Smith


Pentanet chairman David Buckingham and managing director Stephen Cornish. The Mindarie tower is in the background. Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West Australian

Stephen Cornish bet the house on his internet start-up.

Mr Cornish’s Pentanet, which is tapping shareholders for $22.5 million via an initial public offer, was initially funded from the proceeds of the sale of his Woodvale home.

A keen gamer, he became frustrated by the poor internet speeds and set out to find a solution.

He found it in high-bandwidth fixed-wireless technology, selling his house to raise the cash to build the first of a network of 40 telecommunications towers covering about half of Perth.

Over the past three years, Pentanet has raised a further $11 million from private backers including veteran director Dalton Gooding, one of its five board members.
The company is chaired by David Buckingham — chief executive of WA Internet success story iiNet when it was sold to TPG for $1.6 billion five years ago.

Pentanet is currently selling internet services to about 8200 subscribers and generating $800,000 in monthly revenue.

The company sees the future in its rollout of a 5G fixed-wireless technology developed by Facebook. Facebook’s Terragraph will enable it to both offer higher speeds and serve more customers on its own network rather than through the NBN.

As a nod to its origins, Pentanet is also pushing into cloud gaming through a partnership with one of the world’s biggest makers of specialised graphic gaming chips.
The venture with US group NVIDIA will allow its gamer subscribers to play the most demanding games across nearly any laptop or android mobile device.