Kordia and Orcon to merge under Bartlett
Kordia has today announced the integration of its two New Zealand telecommunications businesses, Kordia Networks and Orcon.
The newly called Kordia New Zealand comes with both companies anticipating ongoing growth in a "changed and more competitive telecommunications environment."
Group CEO Geoff Hunt says due to 27% growth in Orcon and 16% growth in Kordia in the year to June 2012, this is the best format for the businesses to operate.
“Today’s announcement positions us to be solutions-led, combining the fast, innovative style of Orcon with the network quality of Kordia," Hunt says.
"It will create New Zealand’s most innovative and reliable provider of business-critical information services.
“The move will also enable us to eliminate the increasing duplication of network infrastructure and associated support staff.
"And as both businesses have developed services for business customers in parallel, the time is also right to rationalise the product set and present a simple, unified offering to this market.
"Orcon will remain a key brand focussed on residential and small business customers.
"This is an exciting chapter for Kordia as we refine the network business for ongoing growth."
The CEO for the Kordia New Zealand business will be Scott Bartlett, who currently heads Orcon.
“Kordia New Zealand will have four areas of focus: media (broadcast and content management and delivery); advanced telecommunications services for business, specialised networks and internet services," Bartlett says.
Kordia New Zealand business will have a turnover of $161m and 320 staff, with the integration following a period of staff consultation.
Recommended changes include outsourcing Orcon’s remaining 50 Auckland call centre positions to New Zealand partner Datacom, to be resourced out of its Manila operation, with approximately nine redundancies across the rest of the business.
“The Kordia standard of service will ultimately be applicable to all business customers and Orcon’s skills in speed to market capability for new products will provide leadership in moving forward," Bartlett says.
