Why I Never Joined the Corporate Telco Race (And Built Something Better Instead)

By Daniel Filmer, Move Up Internet Founder & Managing Director.

When I was starting out in business, everyone assumed I’d follow the traditional path. Get experience, climb the corporate ladder, maybe eventually launch something massive with venture capital backing. The telco industry had a clear playbook: go big, go national, compete on scale.

I never bought into it.

Instead, I chose to build something different from the ground up. Three years after officially launching Move Up Internet, I’m more convinced than ever that we took the right path.

What the Giants Were Missing

While I was watching the big telcos operate, a few things became crystal clear. They were so focused on maximising shareholder returns that they’d forgotten about the actual humans trying to get online. Customer service became a cost centre to minimise. Installation delays became acceptable if they saved money. Complex pricing structures became normal because they boosted margins.

The market was crying out for something simple, honest, and genuinely customer-focused. But you can’t deliver that when you’re answerable to institutional investors who demand quarterly growth above everything else.

That’s when I realised the opportunity wasn’t in competing with Telstra on their terms – it was in building something they could never be.

The Startup Path from Day One

Rather than trying to be everything to everyone across Australia, we chose Southeast Queensland and went deep. Instead of chasing every possible customer segment, we focused on apartment buildings where we could make the biggest difference. Instead of building a massive corporate structure, we kept things lean and agile.

This wasn’t just about being scrappy – it was strategic. When you stay focused and local, you can move fast. You can actually know your customers. You can make decisions based on what’s right, not what looks good in a boardroom presentation.

The corporate telcos spend months getting approvals for simple changes. We can adapt to customer feedback in days.

Small Team, Big Impact

While the major players have thousands of employees across multiple continents, we’ve built something powerful with a much smaller, tighter team. Everyone here knows exactly what we’re trying to achieve and why it matters.

There are no layers of middle management translating customer problems into corporate speak. No departments that don’t talk to each other. No disconnect between the people making decisions and the people actually serving customers.

When your team is lean and local, every person’s contribution matters. Everyone’s focused on the same mission: delivering better internet to Queensland.

Community First, Shareholders Second

Here’s what I’ve learned: when you put community needs ahead of investor returns, something interesting happens. You build stronger customer loyalty. Word spreads faster. People genuinely want to support what you’re doing.

The big telcos optimise for quarterly earnings reports. We optimise for whether someone’s internet actually works when they need it most. They measure success in market share and profit margins. We measure it in whether we’re genuinely making people’s lives better.

This isn’t just feel-good business philosophy – it’s sustainable competitive advantage. When your customers become advocates because they genuinely believe in what you’re doing, that’s worth more than any marketing budget.

Growth Without Losing Your Soul

The pressure to scale quickly is constant in business. Investors want hockey stick growth. Competitors are expanding into new markets. The temptation to dilute your focus for faster expansion is always there.

But I’ve seen too many companies lose their identity in pursuit of rapid growth. They start with great intentions, then gradually compromise their values to hit targets. Before long, they’ve become exactly what they set out to replace.

We’ve grown steadily across Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, but we’ve never compromised on what makes us different. We’re not interested in becoming another corporate telco that happens to be slightly newer.

The Path Forward

Looking ahead, I’m convinced that the future belongs to companies that choose purpose over scale, community over corporate distance, and genuine service over shareholder appeasement.

The corporate telco race is rigged – it’s designed to create companies that prioritise everything except the customer experience. By refusing to play that game, we’ve built something better.

And the best part? We’re just getting started.