PETER Hanley, the founder and former managing director of listed telecommunication reseller Pahth Telecommunications, is in the midst of building another empire, albeit with no intention of a stock market listing.
As the founder and managing director of Osborne Park-based RedSky, also a telecommunications reseller, Mr Hanley said he was doing business in a city he will always call home and in a manner that suits him more comfortably than being at the helm of a company besieged by investor interests.
“I am much happier in private companies,” he said.
“It was a mutual thing when I resigned from Pahth and we came to an agreement on its future direction.”
Mr Hanley resigned in July last year to set up RedSky and Pahth Telecommunications set up a new name, Broadtel Communications, and a new headquarters in Melbourne.
Mr Hanley’s managed the company through some rocky times during the tech crash that sent some extravagant business plans crashing, along with the share price.
“We tried to do a few things but the timing wasn’t right. We were going to buy Westnet and we had everything in place but that all fell over,” he said.
Mr Hanley hopes that RedSky will have a happier ending and has set some significant goals.
“As a WA company we want to be in as prominent a position in the WA market as Pahth was and Pahth was one of the largest resellers in Perth,” he said.
Mr Hanley said that some of the staff who worked for him at Pahth were now involved in RedSky and those names and their business relationships were helping forge the RedSky brand in Perth.
“Is it easy to establish a name? No it’s not but some of us have been operating in Perth for eight to nine years and we are advertising on the radio and its starting to develop brand awareness,” he said.
“I have a good track record and that is important when you work in Perth. If you mess up in Perth everyone knows about it.”
Mr Hanley said RedSky offered integrated services and worked in the emerging email virus protection market.
“We have more of a business relationship focus rather than just operating as a telephone system and installation service,” he said.
“We are doing computer network set-ups particularly where the computer systems integrate with the phone systems.
“We want to supply a bundle of products rather than a phone system.”
Mr Hanley said sales showed the MailGuard anti virus filter was proving to be a successful market.
“It is a growth area for us and it’s a fairly new area,” he said.
