IiNet
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Lowercase Template:Infobox Company iiNet Limited (Template:Asx) is one of Australia's major Internet Service Providers. Focusing primarily on ADSL-based Internet access, it is currently Australia's third largest ISP. The company trades under a number of names such as ii, Froggy, ihug and OzEmail (the latter three being former ISPs purchased by iiNet).
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History
iiNet was founded in 1993 by Michael Malone and Michael O'Reilly, who started the business in a suburban garage in Perth, Western Australia as iiNet Technologies Pty Ltd. It began as one of the first Australian ISPs to offer TCP/IP Internet access, as opposed to the store-and-forward techniques (such as MHSnet) that are used by other ISPs. It claims it was the first ISP to offer PPP access in Australia, and to be the first to base operations on the then new Linux operating system.
In the mid-1990s, the company experimented with related services, such as iiCon, a web design joint venture with a leading Perth design company, and Intuition, an Internet training school. While they were initially successful, the company ultimately closed them down to focus on core Internet service provision.
The company outgrew its suburban home in 1995 and moved to CBD office accommodation. Its early growth during the Internet boom was hampered by the ability of Telstra to deliver enough telephone lines to cope with demand.
Western Australia's Largest ISP
A growing demand on infrastructure and a rapidly increasing number of staff saw the company relocate again in 1997 to the central QV.1 building. Shortly after, it was instrumental in forming the Western Australian Internet Exchange in the same premises.
1999 marked a turning point for the company. Founding partner Michael Malone purchased the company outright and listed it on the Australian Stock Exchange under ticker symbol IIN. The new found capital was used to acquire its two major local rivals in Western Australia - Wantree Internet and Omen Internet.
After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the company fared poorly on the markets - however consistently remained profitable and used the time to improve its service and infrastructure.
Growth through acquisition
The company created a new registered telecommunications provider iiTel, later renamed Chime, that sought to improve Internet access prices by making wholesale telephone access much cheaper. This was possible through new interconnection agreements mandated by the Australian Government's deregulation of the telecommunications industry.
Based on its new abilities, and after consolidating its local position, iiNet focused on expanding to national coverage in the early 2000s through strategic acquisitions and natural growth. The acquisitions were:
- RuralNet (Mildura and regional Victoria)
- Tas Access (Tasmania)
- Granite Internet (Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia)
- RockNet (Rockhampton, Queensland)
With the advent of ADSL access, iiNet was at the forefront of price and service wars and was rewarded with a substantial amount of business in the emerging broadband industry. The take-up moved the company from a provider of dial-up Internet in one state to a major Internet provider across all of Australia.
In 2003, iiNet made its biggest acquisition to date, purchasing key New Zealand provider ihug. The move cemented its position as one of the primary providers in the Australia/New Zealand Internet market.
In 2004, iiNet acquired the ISP business of Melbourne-based PC retailer Virtual Communities, which traded under brands including Bigblue, Vtown, AustarMetro (later iiMetro), Urban, Malleenet, BRD and HealthOn-Net.
In November 2004, iiNet made the decision to rebrand its business simply to 'ii' because the company's services were expanding beyond Internet access. This would later revert in 2006 back to 'iiNet', although the organisation continued to retain unique branding for its New Zealand 'ihug' division.
In 2005, iiNet acquired the residential ISP business and trademarks of rival OzEmail. The business side and infrastructure of that business remained in the ownership of US-parent MCI. The trademarks were believed to be valuable, because OzEmail has been well known in the Eastern states of Australia, regions iiNet has traditionally been seen as an unknown outsider. However, by 2006 iiNet had largely abandoned the OzEmail brand, using its 'ii - connect better' in the Eastern states as well as its home market of Perth. Together with a high rate of churn in the dialup customer base and relatively sluggish growth in broadband in the second half of 2005, this development has prompted commentary that iiNet may have paid too much for OzEmail. [1]
DSLAM deployment
In late 2004 and throughout 2005, iiNet moved to introduce their own DSLAMs (colloquially known as iiSLAMs or iiDSLAMs in the industry) infrastructure into telephone exchanges Australia-wide. This move allowed iiNet to be the first Australian DSL carrier to offer speeds of over 1.5 Mbit/s to a significant number of customers. The maximum download speed was initially 8 Mbit/s (ADSL1), which increased to 12 Mbit/s and later to 24 Mbit/s, as ADSL2/ADSL2+ standards have been ratified and tested with iiNet's equipment. This new infrastructure is anticipated to be used in conjunction with MSANs to allow iiNet to offer increased telecommunication services.
In February 2005, iiNet ceased offering 256 kbit/s and 512 kbit/s ADSL plans, concentrating on 1.5 Mbit/s and above, a product line that the company branded as iiBroadband2+.
Move into telephony
Over the recent years, iiNet have expanded their line of products to include their own telephony service iiPhone (in addition to their consumer VoIP technology, iiNetPhone).
iiPhone
2004 saw the introduction of iiPhone in the form of a long distance carrier.
In February 2005, iiNet introduced their full-service iiPhone telephony service with their new range of iibroadband2 packages, allowing customers to pay their telephony costs completely through iiNet, including line rental and local calls. Users of iiNet DSLAMs who were also subscribed to iiPhone full service had their accounts unlocked to operate at the full speed of the ADSL specifications, which at the time was 8 Mbit/s (See iibroadband2). This bundling was the primary driving factor for users to subscribe to the iiPhone service, as it does not offer rates significantly cheap enough to warrant most users changing their phone provider; however, many users were attracted by the much higher speeds available through iibroadband2.
iiNetPhone (VoIP)
In August 2005, iiNet released iiNetPhone, their consumer VoIP service, the first ISP in Australia to provide a full VoIP service alongside internet access service. The product was an "add-on" service, available only to customers that also use their iiPhone service. As with most VoIP services, call costs were well under standard market prices for a regular copper line. The iiNetPhone service supports inbound and outbound calls to normal Australian PSTN numbers. iiNet initially suffered a delay in supplying their preferred VoIP hardware—Belkin's ATAs and ADSL modems—to users.
Regulatory conflict with Telstra
In late 2005, Telstra Wholesale made changes to their pricing arrangements, each of which forced iiNet to make changes to their product line and pricing. The first of these changes was to the DSLAM port rate, which resulted in an increase of the cost of a 1.5Mbit port. Because iiNet offers only 1.5 Mbit/s speeds and above, this affected them greatly. iiNet reduced the speeds for their two cheapest plans to 512kps. The data allowance on these plans was increased in an attempt to placate users. They also rebranded the plans available to their Telstra Wholesale customers (512kps and 1.5 Mbit/s plans) to iiBroadband1, reserving the iiBroadband2+ moniker to uncapped "Up to 24 Mbit/s" speed plans, only available in areas connected to an exchange with an iiNet DSLAM.
The second was an increase in line rental for iiPhone. The rate was increased from A$29.95 to $33.36, and was also blamed on price increases from Telstra Wholesale. Michael Malone said in regard to both changes, "We're disappointed in the changes to our broadband arrangements and line rental prices from Telstra Wholesale and we're challenging this," [2]