Morwell resident enters telco Hall of Fame

Morwell resident Phillip Britt has been recognised for his contributions to the Australian telco industry by being inducted into the Edison Awards Hall of Fame.

Phil is the Managing Director of Morwell-based Aussie Broadband, which also won Australia’s Best Fixed Broadband Provider at the awards, held in Sydney.

The awards are run by CommsDay and were judged by a panel of industry experts. 

Master of Ceremonies Rob Carlton said Phil was nominated for his work as a transformative and disruptive business leader who has taken Aussie Broadband from a small regionally-focussed business to an Australia-wide quality internet service provider.

“Phil is acknowledged as an excellent communicator and charismatic leader who thrives on large challenges,” he said.  “He leads through straight-talking, his ability to engage with people at all levels, and his core belief in making communities better.

“One of the major reasons for Aussie’s critical success has been the values of the business, championed strongly by Phil: no bullsh*t, be awesome, think big, be good to people and have fun. Phil empowers his staff to use these values to make business decisions and interact with customers every day.”

Phil became interested in the telco industry at 16 and started his first ISP at 18, largely because he wanted cheap internet.  He began Network Technology Pty Ltd in 1996 in the Latrobe Valley, which he later sold to Datafast Telecommunications. 

Phil later founded Wideband Networks with his business partner, John Reisinger, in 2003 from their lounge room in Morwell.  They saw a growing need to extend decent broadband access into regional and rural areas of Australia, focusing on Gippsland.  In July 2008, Wideband merged with another company to form Aussie Broadband.

In 2016, with the NBN rollout challenge, the company faced a “get big or get out” decision and Phil led a bold initiative to expand across Australia, requiring significant network investment and upgrades – which many in the industry said could not be done.

Since then he has continued to challenge industry norms with actions like stop-sells in areas waiting on upgrades, publishing daily bandwidth graphs and campaigning on fixed wireless congestions.

Aussie Broadband now one of the biggest employers in the Latrobe Valley.

In his thank-you speech, Phil paid tribute to the staff at Aussie Broadband.  “Aussie Broadband has more than 200 staff now, but in all honesty, it still feels very much like a family,” he said.

“Our growth would not be possible without our awesome team.”