• What is Southern Phone?
• Why is Southern Phone needed?
• Southern Phone values
• Who owns Southern Phone?
• Southern Phone Board of Directors

What is Southern Phone?
Southern Phone delivers affordable telecommunications services with a strong focus on regional Australia.

Southern Phone was established with support from the Commonwealth Government's Networking the Nation (NTN) program. The NTN program was established following the first stage of the sale of Telstra with the aim of improving telecommunications services in regional Australia.

Southern Phone is an unlisted Public Company (A.C.N. 100 901 184) and only local councils can be shareholders. This means all profits are returned to the community through the councils.

Why is Southern Phone needed?
The cost of telecommunications in regional Australia has been a source of constant concern and discussion in recent years.

The lack of competition in regional areas has meant prices and other aspects of service delivery have not met the expectations of the community to the extent realised in metropolitan areas.

The local councils behind the development of Southern Phone realised that while generally good services are available it would only be the introduction of competition in many smaller centres that would deliver lower pricing and other service improvements.

Click here to listen to an interview conducted by ABC Radio National's "Bush Telegraph" program in August 2009 with Southern Phone's General Manager, Phil Herrick on the development of the company.

Southern Phone values
Southern Phone operates to maximise benefits to the community. It reflects the values, ethics and style of the people living in the country and presents those to the customer.

Southern Phone only pursues profits to the extent they are required for company sustainability, service expansion and an agreed return to shareholding councils. Otherwise prices will be maintained at the lowest possible level to ensure maximum community benefit.

Who owns Southern Phone?
Southern Phone is a company formed under the Corporations Act 2001 as a Public Company Limited by Shares. Under the Company Constitution only Local Councils can be shareholders. No individuals may own shares.

Benefits will be channeled through the community by the maintenance of low cost services and the delivery of any profits to shareholding councils.

The Local Councils that currently hold shares in Southern Phone Company are:

Southern Phone is a regional company. The headquarters and principal place of business is in the regional centre of Moruya in the Eurobodalla Shire on the NSW south coast.

Southern Phone Board of Directors
A Board of seven Directors manages the operations of the company. The Board is accountable to the shareholders through the Annual General Meeting and through General Meetings that may occasionally be called under the terms of the Company Constitution.

The Directors of Southern Phone are:

Bill Hilzinger (Chairman), previously Chairman of Integral Energy and the Superannuation Services corporation.

Darral Ashton, Chairman, Apple & Pear Australia Limited. Chairman of the Batlow Fruit Co-operative.

Brian Johns, previously Managing Director, ABC, CEO of SBS and Publishing Director of Penguin Books. Chairman of the Copyright Agency Limited.

Greg Malavey, Regional businessman.

Rod Oxley, Non-Executive Director.

Andrew Riley, Director of APIR Systems Pty Ltd, previously has held executive positions in various IT companies over the last 20 years.

Phil Herrick, General Manager, Southern Phone Company.