Southern Phone

Southern Phone (also known as Southern Phone Company) is an Australian telecommunications company. It is located at Moruya, New South Wales.^[2] Southern Phone was established in 2002. It operated as an unlisted public company until December 2019.^[1] It was acquired by AGL Energy for A$27.5 million from 35 district councils.^[3]

Southern Phone

Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	2002; 23 years ago (2002)
Headquarters	Moruya, New South Wales , Australia
Products	Home phone services, Mobile phone services, Internet services
Owner	AGL Energy
Number of employees	160[1]
Website	southernphone.com.au

History

In 2002, Southern Phone was formed by councils in New South Wales, Australia in order to extend affordable telecommunications into regional communities.^[1][4][5] The company received $4.77 million in initial funding from the Australian Government's Networking the Nation scheme. Local councils were shareholders,^[1] retaining profits in the community. Councils purchased two shares for $1 each.^[6] In 2017, Southern Phone had 35 shareholders including the Upper Lachlan Shire Council, Coffs Harbour City Council and Bellingen Shire Council.^[4][6][7]

Optus Satellite partnered with Southern Phone in October 2017 to launch the national broadband network (NBN) Sky Muster.^[1][8] Southern Phone uses the Optus 4G network, as well as parts of the Telstra 4G/3G network for its mobile services.^[9] By 2018, Southern Phone had delivered over $14.8 million in dividends to local councils with shares in the company.^{[better source needed]}