One.Tel
 |
|
| Public | |
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Fate | Collapsed |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder |
Jodee Rich Brad Keeling |
| Defunct | 2001 |
One.Tel was a group of Australian based telecommunications companies, including principally the publicly listed One.Tel Limited (ACN 068 193 153) established in 1995 soon after deregulation of the Australian telecommunications industry, most of which are currently under external administration by court appointed liquidators.
The company was established by Jodee Rich and Brad Keeling and had high-profile backers such as the Murdoch and Packer families. James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch sat on the board of the company.
One.Tel attempted to create a youth-oriented image to sell their mobile phones and One.Net internet services. It became Australia's fourth largest telecommunications company before collapsing in 2001. Rich and Keeling continued to receive $7m in payments shortly before the company entered administration. The Packer and Murdoch families were embarrassed by the failure of the company, especially after it was reported that both James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch had persuaded their fathers to back the company and invest.
The company's slogan was You'll tell your friends about One.Tel, to draw the connection between the brand and personal communication. The company also had a cartoon mascot known as "The Dude". The Dude was a cartoon-like depiction of a man in his early twenties, drawn by Adam Long, Jodee Rich's brother-in-law.
One Tel began operations in May 1995. In 1999 One.Tel's Next Generation 3GSM 1800 network was launched by joint CEO's of the mobile business, Stephen Moore and David Wright in Sydney, Australia.
The original thought process began with a simple initiative: they wanted to start a new telephone company, one that the average person would understand. The company was very people focused and focused on the residential market, as opposed to corporate business. They wanted the consumer, or everyday person in the street, to have access to the entire suite of telephony products, which is why the company was marketed with the catch phrase “100% Telephone Company”.
At that time, the Company was firmly established in the telecommunications market, with operations in Australia, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.
One.Tel had three core product offerings: fixed wire long distance, Internet service provision and mobile telephony.
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