Farmside Wins Deloitte Fast 50 Category

2 November 2009

Farmside, New Zealand’s rural telco ranked 18th in the Deloitte Fast 50 and won the Fastest growing technology, media and telecommunications business for the Canterbury and Upper South Island region.

Following stellar growth of 274.25 per cent, Farmside is now firmly established as one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing technology companies.

Tony Baird, CEO of Farmside attended the Canterbury and Upper South Island region event and is thrilled to be recognised in the prestigious list, which has developed a habit of highlighting identifying emerging industries, important trends or insights into our business environment.

“Farmside has a clear growth strategy which has resulted in our entry to the Fast 50 list,” says Baird. “Given the harsh economic conditions being experienced in many parts of the economy this Fast 50 win is testament to the drive and professionalism of the Farmside team, and it further confirms the demand of satellite communications in rural New Zealand”.

The recent funding set down by the Communications and Information Technology Minister, Steven Joyce aims to drive the roll-out of broadband to all rural communities and establishes an even stronger position for satellite broadband growth.

“I can certainly say that 2009 has been a good vintage for Farmside,” says Baird. “Not only have we experienced huge business growth, we have solidified our position in the market as leading rural telco by forging relationships with global brand Vodafone, and by continuing to strengthen our partnership with Telecom”.

Farmside already connects over 10,000 customers in the most remote towns and villages with high speed internet that is unavailable via other networks and suppliers.

National Fast 50 leader for Deloitte, Matt McKendry praised the Timaru-based company. “Tony and the team at Farmside are a great example of a company that is exploiting a niche, and doing it hugely successfully”.

“They are doing some very clever things in terms of the way they interact with their chosen markets and meet their rural customers’ needs. Farmside should be very proud of what it has achieved in the 2009 Fast 50 – and we’re looking forward to seeing them back on the Index in 2010. They’re definitely one to watch.”

To make the Fast 50 this year, companies needed revenue growth of 145% or higher between 2007 and 2009, and businesses are ranked by their growth over this three-year period. Deloitte says Fast 50 companies grew the New Zealand economy by $426 million collectively between 2007 and 2009, creating 784 jobs.

ENDS

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