John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)

Current

Founder, Executive Director at IP Broadband Ltd
Founder, CEO at Convergex Ltd
Consultant & Entrepreneur at Asteroid

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Past

CEO at Business in Motion Ltd
Consultant at IPSTAR New Zealand Ltd
Member of Executive at New Zealand Wireless & Broadband Forum

Founder; CEO; Director Project Development at Nava Networks, Bermuda
Country Manager, New Zealand at Optus
Mgr Business Strategy & Mgr Networks and Technology at Telecom New Zealand

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3 more...

Education

University of Otago
Imperial College London
University of Otago

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Recommended

10 people have recommended John

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Telecommunications

John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)’s Summary

John Humphrey [john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz]
6,200+ connections

I love transforming business ideas into new ventures. Wrestling with the myriad of jigsaw pieces that must be assembled: people, technical, financial, legal, etc - is so addictive. Each day brings stimulation, surprises and new challenges enabling me to meet people, to travel and to fully enjoy life.

I am an entrepreneur, as well as an occasional consultant, focussed on commercialising new telecommunications technology developments. Based in New Zealand but working on projects and new ventures in NZ, the US and across Asia.

John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)’s Specialties:

Telecommunications
Inforrmation Technology
IT
Fibre to the Home (FTTH), Fibre to the Curb (FTTC), Fibre to the Node (FTTN)
Broadband Wireless
WiMAX
Structured mesh WiFi
Business Plans
Satellite
Broadcast TV, DTH TV
IPTV
Undersea Cables
Internet
Managed Services
VoIP, IP PBX, IP Centrex
IP VPN
NGN
Negotiating
Start-ups
Venture capital, raising finance, angel finance
Technology assessment
Strategy
Business Development
Financial Planning

John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)’s Experience

Founder, Executive Director

IP Broadband Ltd

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

May 2007 — Present (1 year 6 months)

Starting a Next Generation Network organization that will bridge the bandwidth and service gaps created by the dearth of new facilities based competitive service providers in this era of legacy carrier dominance. Addressing fully converged metropolitan broadband IP services in selected Asian and US markets. Delivering fibre and wireless access bundled with hosted services to SMEs, corporations and Government organisatons. Typical services include bandwidths at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps to individual customer locations. Hosted services include IP VPN, VoIP, IP Centrex, Managed Security, Video etc.
Founder, CEO

Convergex Ltd

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

January 2004 — Present (4 years 10 months)

Convergex Ltd is a telecommunications start-up developing a range of advanced broadband services (such as network-based IP VPNs, IP Centrex, VoIP etc) that will be wholesaled to the NZ SME market. Eventual aim is to install network of ADSL2+/VDSL IP DSLAMs throughout New Zealand. NZ has recently announced regulation of Telecom NZ enabling the creation of Tier 2 telcos for the first time.
Consultant & Entrepreneur

Asteroid

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

1999 — Present (9 years)

I consult widely (as Asteroid) in IT and Telecommunications in such areas as satellite, broadband fixed wireless, wireless LANs, Ethernet networks, as well as planning and strategy development for telecommunications service providers and a number of New Zealand airports.

Asteroid is also Australia /NZ agent for SOMA Networks, Inc, a US based broadband fixed wireless equipment manufacturer.

I also work closely with Codespace Inc.; the US developers of the satellite and ground system technology behind the IPSTAR system.
CEO

Business in Motion Ltd

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

2002 — 2006 (4 years)

Business in Motion's core business is the development and implementation of world-class enterprise solutions for mobile business operations. This includes software applications that run on handheld computing devices as well as server-based components that allow these applications to integrate with any front-office and back-office systems.

BIM specialises in delivering secure mobile implementations ensuring business is protected from break-ins. We have specialist knowledge in Mobile IP that will allow an organisation to not suffer from the "multiple-network" mayhem. We show customers how to deploy their applications for use over WLAN, 1XRTT, GPRS and 3G networks with seamless roaming between networks without loss of connectivity to their back-end servers or data sessions.
Consultant

IPSTAR New Zealand Ltd

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Telecommunications industry)

2003 — 2006 (3 years)

After working with, then consulting to Shin Satellite PLC (Thailand) for 2 years, I established IPSTAR New Zealand Ltd as a subsidiary of Shin to launch the IPSTAR two-way broadband satellite system in New Zealand. IPNZ constructed NZ's first two-way satellite gateway in Auckland to serve all of NZ with high speed connectivity.

I established the company, the office, hired staff, managed the gateway construction, purchased spectrum, contracted outsourced logistics, marketed IPSTAR, secured first resellers. After 2 years as Executive Director, I then consulted to IPNZ.
Member of Executive

New Zealand Wireless & Broadband Forum

(Non-Profit; 201-500 employees; Telecommunications industry)

2005 — December 2006 (1 year)

The New Zealand Wireless & Broadband Forum supports the wireless and broadband community in New Zealand - developers, re-sellers,users and vendors. Major members include Vodafone, Telecom NZ, TelstraClear, Microsoft, HP, Nokia, Ericcson, Lucent and QualComm.
Founder; CEO; Director Project Development

Nava Networks, Bermuda

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)

1999 — 2002 (3 years)

The Nava project involved building a 9,500 km Singapore to Sydney (via Indonesia and Perth) submarine and terrestrial cable network. Developed the initial concept and raised seed capital from angel investors to get the project to business case stage, as well as built an initial management team. Signed a term sheet with Dolphin Communications, a New York based equity fund and venture capitalist to develop Nava involving a total investment of USD 630 million. Led the project as CEO until late 2000. Assisted the new CEO with driving the project through 2001/2 as part of an 18 person full-time team; primarily working on raising finance, legal and planning issues. After USD 40 million plus expenditure, the project was cancelled.
Country Manager, New Zealand

Optus

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

1993 — 1999 (6 years)

I was the New Zealand Country Manager for Optus (Optus is now Singtel Optus, the 2nd carrier in Ausralia) for six years, during which time I was responsible for major account sales of a wide range of services including a number of satellite services, as well as for carrier relations with several national and international carriers. Sold the transponders that lead to the creation of the Sky NZ DTH service.
Mgr Business Strategy & Mgr Networks and Technology

Telecom New Zealand

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

1989 — 1992 (3 years)

Two roles:
- Developed new planning process in Strategy role, managed process for 2 cycles.
- Project managed a major restructuring of the Networks and Technology Division.

John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)’s Education

University of Otago

MBA, Finance, Strategy, February 1988 — July 1989
Imperial College London

MSc, Mineral Production Management, 1976 — 1977
University of Otago

BSc, Post Grad Diploma, Mining Engineering, 1970 — 1975

Additional Information

John Humphrey (john.humphrey@xtra.co.nz)’s Groups:

The DallasBlue Business Network Member
PHD Networking Excellence Member
Wright Hand Power Forum Member
TECNALIA - TECNologia itALIA Member
Forbes.com Entrepreneurs Member
Forbes.com Personal Technology Forum Member
The Otago MBA Alumni Member
Wireless Factors Member
Futuristic Cinema Specialists Member
LIONs "LI Open Networkers" Member
TEN - Top Executives Net Member
SHiFT! Member