Former Optus director Terry Winters joins Tasmanian IT provider TasmaNet

Optus former board director Terry Winters has joined IT hosting infrastructure and telecommunication services company TasmaNet's board as chairman, while Martin Rees has taken on the vice chairman role.

According to TasmaNet, Winters will bring "a depth of experience in the strategy, operations and governance of international technology companies".

Winters is also the chairman of fibre optic manufacturer Future Fibre Technologies, software vendor Intelledox and employee assistance program provider Converge International.

Winters led the team that created Optus and remained on the Optus board and a non-executive director until 1995.

Martin Rees joins from KPMG where he was a partner for 16 years and a managing partner of the Launceston office for 12 years. Today he is a part-time consultant for KPMG, and a board adviser and director for some clients.

TasmaNet managing director Joel Harris said: "We are very pleased to see people of this calibre joining the TasmaNet board, since it builds confidence in the company as it seeks to establish itself as a leader in cloud digital services. The skills and knowledge Martin and Terry bring to the TasmaNet board will further enhance the maturity, strength and momentum of the organisation moving forward."

The company is set to announce "Australia's first city to receive a 1 Gigabit ultra-high speed NBN network" in a project involving an unnamed partner.

TasmaNet was established in 2004 and specialises in licensed telecommunications and the provision of cloud services.

Recently the company announced a partnership with telecommunications provider Thinxtra in order to build a dedicated IoT networks covering 95 percent of the state's population by the end of the year.

Thinxtra is deploying a nationwide wireless network dedicated to IoT using Sigfox technology. The joint venture between TasmaNet and Thinxtra is rolling out up to 55 communications towers across Tasmania by Q3 2017. TasmaNet is providing access to its towers, its network for backhaul, and engineers for ongoing maintenance and support of the sensory network.