‘Vodafloat’ on agenda for 2020
New boss tasked with getting Vodafone NZ into shape for an IPO within two years. Tom Pullar-strecker reports.
Vodafone TV set-top boxes in February. These would connect to customers’ home wi-fi networks so they needn’t be wired into broadband, and would later support voice commands.
‘‘It is like a ‘Siri’ for Vodafone TV and it is on the road map for before June next year.’’
Paris confirmed Vodafone’s first attempt to market Vodafone NZ to Kiwi investors had stalled because there was too much of a difference between what investors believed it might be worth and Vodafone’s asking price for a stake in the subsidiary.
‘‘The overall market was a lot tougher than we anticipated. That was a big part of the decision by [former chief executive] Russell Stanners to move on,’’ Paris said.
‘‘When we decided the market wasn’t right and the commercial performance of the business wasn’t quite where we needed it to be to float as successfully as we would have liked, the organisation wanted him to stay. But he would have had to stay on to 2021 to see it through and he was struggling to be energised about a 17-year tenure.’’
Vodafone NZ currently employs 3000 staff and Paris said that would reduce, though he did not by how many at this stage.
The company would seek growth opportunities in areas such as entertainment, health, security, the ‘‘internet of things’’ and home automation, he said.
‘‘My vision is we are the most efficiently run telco in New Zealand by the end of next year.’’