Telco provider Devoli expands Aussie presence with new hire

Kent Plummer has years of telco experience behind him, was recently at Aussie Broadband.

Telco platform Devoli has expanded its Aussie presence, hiring Kent Plumber as its new channel manager for Australia.

Plumber is joining Devoli as more service providers look to move beyond traditional telco processes and adopt software-driven approaches to ordering, provisioning, assurance and billing across multiple network providers.

Devoli is a New Zealand-based telco wholesaler that works directly with MSPs, ITSPs and resellers to offer communication services.

Based on the Gold Coast, Plumber will work alongside Devoli partners across Australia, helping them reduce operational complexity and unlock the full value of the Devoli Platform.

Plumber has held senior roles in the Australian telecommunications industry most recently, he led partner engagement for many of Aussie Broadband’s key customers.

Karl Rosnell, CEO at Devoli explained why they hired Plumber.

“Plumber has spent years on the partner side of exactly that gap, so he knows where the cost and friction sit better than almost anyone,” he said.

“Having him on the ground means our partners get someone who's lived their problems, not just an arm's length vendor.

“It's also a clear signal of our strategy - our platform is proven at scale in New Zealand and we have a great partner community in Australia. By turning up we hope to prove we’re committed to helping them win.”

Rosnell added that the market has changed.

“Australian MSPs are being asked to deliver connectivity like a software business, but most of their suppliers still run it like a telco - manual, slow, one carrier at a time,” he said.

New investments

Apart from hiring Plumber, one of the biggest investments they are making in Australia is within their platform.

Rosnell said, “We've put many years and material capital into the software layer that lets a partner quote, order, provision, assure and bill across multiple carriers from one place,” he said.

“It's Trans-Tasman by design, so a partner can work with Australian and New Zealand carriers from the same platform. We already have people working in the Australian market and will keep growing the local team as the channel expands.”

Looking at the Aussie IT channel, Rosnell called it “large and fragmented”.

“The MSPs who win will be the ones who can serve customers faster at a lower cost to serve,” he said.

One of the challenges he sees in the telco space is that the technology was built for telcos, not for the businesses reselling it.

“Provisioning is slow, systems don't talk to each other, and every carrier has its own way of doing things, so the cost to serve stays high and the experience stays clunky,” he explained.

“Put AI and automation on top and the gap between what's possible and what the industry delivers only gets wider. That's a challenge for the incumbents and an opportunity for anyone willing to rebuild the plumbing. We think the future of telco is driven by software, and the businesses that get there first will set the pace.”

Devoli has been in the Aussie market for the past five years, Rosnell said the conversation was originally about access and price.

“Five years on it's about software, automation and cost to serve. MSPs have matured, NBN has matured, and the appetite for a platform approach we were early to is now mainstream,” he said.

“For us, that evolution is why the timing's right. We spent those years building and proving the platform in New Zealand, and now it's ready, we're committing to Australia fully. Plumber on the ground is the first visible part of that for the channel.”

Rosnell noted that his ambition doesn’t stop at Trans-Tasman.

“Our mission is to make connectivity instant, global and invisible by becoming a layer that quietly powers other businesses without them having to think about it. Australia is the priority right now, and from there we'll keep pushing into new territories,” he ended.