Steve Lowe's love for telecoms makes Asia Pacific AT&T's top growth area
Steve Lowe's life has been one steeped in telecommunications. The vice-president of AT&T Asia Pacific has done little else since he started his career in New Zealand as an engineer for the post office, now Telecom New Zealand. He made his mark on the fast-changing industry from early on.
'I was responsible for building New Zealand's first digital microwave radio trunk network,' he says.
His career included stints with New Zealand's Tranz Rail and GEC Plessey in Britain in 1987, after winning the Telecom New Zealand overseas fellowship. He joined IBM in 1994, becoming New Zealand country manager of its network services division, which he set up in 1996.
Two years later, AT&T bought IBM's global network business and Mr Lowe along with it. As managing director of AT&T Australia and New Zealand, he launched the AT&T Australia subsidiary in 2002, shifting the business model from serving customers through a channel partner to direct sales. In 12 months, he more than doubled the company's revenue in Australia.
By 2003, when he moved to Hong Kong, AT&T's regional hub, Mr Lowe was in charge of building the global network infrastructure and service platforms, as well as new services and an Asian team of network solutions engineers.