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Telstra
Telstra or Telstra Corporation (often abbreviated as Telstra Corp), (, )is an Australian telecommunications and media company, formerly state-owned. Telstra is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, mobile services, dialup, wireless, DSL and cable internet access in Australia. Telstra is based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Formerly Telecom Australia, the company was renamed Telstra as the name Telecom was seen as too common. Since 1995 the company has continued to trade both domestically and internationally under the Telstra brand, even after being privatised in 2006.
HistoryTelecommunications services were originally controlled by the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG). On July 1, 1975, separate commissions were established by statute to replace the PMG. Responsibility for postal services was transferred to the Australian Postal Commission (Australia Post). The Australian Telecommunications Commission (ATC), trading as Telecom Australia, ran domestic telecommunication services. In 1989 the ATC was reconstituted as the Australian Telecommunications Corporation. In 1992 the Overseas Telecommunications Commission, a separate government body established in 1946, was merged with the Australian Telecommunications Corporation into the short-lived Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (AOTC) which continued trading under the established identities of Telecom and OTC. The AOTC was renamed to Telstra Corporation Limited in 1993. The corporation then traded under the "Telstra" brand internationally, and "Telecom Australia" domestically until 1995, when uniform branding of "Telstra" was introduced throughout the entire organisation. Telstra has faced competition since the late 1980s from Optus (Australia's 2nd largest communication company) and a host of other smaller providers. It retains ownership of the fixed-line telephone network, as well as one of two competing pay-TV and data cable networks. Other companies offering fixed-line services must therefore deal with Telstra except Optus, Transact and a few others who have installed their own infrastructure. From 1998, Telstra used the slogan "Making life easier", however this slogan was dropped in 2000. The original Telstra logo introduced in 1993 symbolized a telephone receiver beneath the leg of the "T", however, coinciding with the launch of the NextG Network in late 2006, Telstra began to replace this with a modified logo where leg of the T is no longer implied. PrivatisationTelstra was privatized in 3 different stages, informally known as T1, T2 and T3 in 1997, 1999 and 2006[1] In T1, the government sold 1/3rd of its shares in Telstra for $14 Billion[1] In 1999 a further 16% of Telstra shares were released to the public and sold, leaving the Government with 51% ownership. In 2006, T3 was announced by the government and was the largest of the three public releases, reducing the Government's share in Telstra to 17%.[2] ServicesHome Phone
Rural Telstra exchange building, located in Karawinna, Victoria. Telstra outsources a significant portion of network installation and maintenance to private contractors and Joint Ventures, such as ABB Communications and STCJV (Siemens Thiess Communications Joint Venture). Telstra also owns and maintains the majority of Australia's public telephones. It was announced[3] that Telstra would remove many of the phones, citing unprofitability due to vandalism and the increasing takeup and use of mobile telephones. 
A typical Telstra payphone Telstra Mobile
Telstra mobile phone Base station in Wireless Hill, Ardross, Western Australia. Telstra Mobile is Australia's largest mobile telephone service provider, in terms of both subscriptions[4] and coverage[5]. Telstra operates Australia's largest GSM and 3G UMTS (branded as NextG) mobile telephony networks in Australia[6], as well as holding a 50% stake in the 3GIS Ltd 2100MHz UMTS network infrastructure, shared with Hutchison (Three). As of September 2007, Telstra has an estimated 9.3M mobile subscribers [4]. Telstra Mobile services are available in post-paid and prepaid payment types, known as Telstra Pre-Paid Plus (formerly communic8). Next G, Telstra's primary 3G UMTS mobile network, built between November 2005 and September 2006, opened in October 2006. The Next G network is the largest mobile network in Australia, providing coverage over 100 times greater than any other 3G provider and over 3 times larger than any 2G provider in Australia[5]. The NextG Network is also the fastest cellular network in the world, delivering network speeds of up to 14.4Mbit/s in the downlink[5]. The NextG network operating on the 850MHz band was built to replace Telstra's CDMA network which operated from 1999 until April 28 2008. The 850 MHz band was chosen over the more common 2100 MHz band as it can cover much greater geographic distances for a lower overall investment. This network was implemented under contract by Ericsson as part of a project internally dubbed "Jersey" and launched on 6 October 2006. HSPA technology was included in the network to provide Australia's first wide area wireless broadband network. The efficiency of the Next G network and its coverage has been challenged and scrutinised since its launch, causing Telstra to go back to areas with average coverage, particularly rural towns to improve its coverage footprint. On January 18 2008, Hon Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications knocked back the proposal for Telstra to switch off its CDMA network on January 28 2008, saying that whilst the new network provided coverage equal to or better than the CDMA network, the range of handsets available was not yet satisfactory'.[7]. The final approval was given by the minister on the 15th of April to close the CDMA network after April 28 2008 [8]. Telstra closed the network nationally during the early morning hours of April 29 2008[9]. Telstra's GSM network was the first digital mobile network in Australia. It was launched in April 1993 on the 900MHz band[10]. The GSM network has carried the majority of Telstra's mobile subscribers for the last 10 years and has seen numerous upgrades. 1800MHz capacity channels were added to the network in the late 1990s as well as GPRS packet data transmission capabilities. As part of the UMTS NextG deployment, the GSM network was also upgraded to a full EDGE data transmission capability in 2006 providing data transmission capabilities greater than 40kbit/s on its GSM network[11]. In 1981, Telstra (then Telecom Australia) was the first company to provide mobile telephony services in Australia. The first automated mobile service operated in the major capital cities on 500MHz using the '007' dialing prefix. This network only provided "car phone" capabilities to subscribers as portable handheld terminals were not practical at that time. The first cellular system in Australia offering portable handheld phones was launched by Telstra in 1987 using the AMPS analogue standard on the 800MHz band. This network at it's peak had over 1 million subscribers, but was mandated by the government to be closed down by the year 2000, partially due to privacy concerns which resulted from the AMPS technology, but also because of arrangements undertaken to secure sufficient interest in the GSM network licenses offered in 1992 to competitors. A license condition placed on Telstra to maintain an equivalent coverage footprint at the time resulted in Telstra deciding to deploy an IS-95 CDMA based network in its place. Telstra has made a number of attempts to find a market for mobile data products based on its cellular networks in recent years. Early examples were based on the GPRS capability added to their GSM network and consisted of a WAP text based information service. Telstra further attempted to break through to the value added services such as video streaming and content via its CDMA/1xRTT network with a service called Telstra MobileLoop. This offering was not commercially successful and was abandoned in favour of a GSM i-Mode offering. Telstra was one of the only regional providers to provide i-mode services (running on GSM/GPRS and 3G 2100 MHz WCDMA on one particular handset), licensed from NTT DoCoMo. Telstra no longer sells i-mode, and this service is no longer available to existing customers as of December 10 2007, with current customers being able to recontract with a new handset without incurring early termination charges. With the launch of the Next G network, Telstra now offers more advanced value added services such as mobile TV (branded Foxtel), and other generic internet services (BigPond Mobile, formerly Telstra Active). Today, Telstra can claim to have found a market for its mobile data offerings, announcing in January 2008 that it has for the first time had mobile data revenue exceed that received from SMS.[12] InternetTelstra provides internet subscription and various internet services (such as IP networking, email, servers, and hosting) through its range of ISP companies.
WholesaleTelstra Wholesale[13] provides products such as Data, Mobile, Voice, and other Facilities (such as Colocation and Duct Access)[14] to other companies and organisations for re-sale.[15]. Telstra Wholesale also provides operational support for its customers[16], and facilities for international customers such as International Data Transport and IP Transport[17]. Due to their ownership of most if not all existing copper phone lines and telephone exchanges in Australia, Telstra Wholesale is the incumbent and dominant wholesaler of ADSL related services to other Internet Service Providers. They installed the first DSLAMs in exchanges prior to 2000, and began wholesaling access in late 2000.[18] Telstra wholesales all ADSL (ADSL 1) products for Australia, as it is the only company which has ADSL1 ports in its exchanges. Telstra has more ADSL coverage than all other ISP's combined. BigPond
BigPond logo Telstra owns and operates the largest cable internet network in Australia. Telstra Cable operates in the main cities of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide as well as the Gold Coast), providing downstream speeds of up to 30 Mbit/s in selected areas. Telstra provides internet services for personal and business clients, through its internet service provider (ISP), BigPond. BigPond provides internet products such as:
At the end of the 2007 financial year, BigPond had over 2 million broadband subscribers.[19] The existing customer base of Bigpond Wireless is currently being migrated over to the Next G network, which offers higher speeds and greater coverage. On November 10 2006, Telstra made two major changes to their ADSL network. The first was an increase of the cap of wholesale ADSL speeds offered from 1.5 Mbit/s/256 kbit/s to 8 Mbit/s/384 kbit/s. Telstra also released an ADSL2+ broadband service offering speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s from exchanges where competitors are already offering ADSL2+ services. Telstra does not currently wholesale its ADSL2+ product to other providers. On February 6 2008, Telstra issued a press release announcing that it would activate high-speed ADSL2+ broadband in a further 900 more telephone exchanges serving 2.4 million consumers across every state and territory in Australia. Telstra also claimed that it has received assurances from the Government that it will not be forced to wholesale these services to other providers, saying that the move came "after the Government made clear it did not consider a compelling case had been made for regulating third-party access to the service ? an assurance sought by Telstra for more than one year."[20] CriticismsBigpond rates poorly in independent customer satisfaction surveys, in both customer service and value for money. Choice Magazine in October 2007 found Bigpond the worst provider for both ADSL and Wireless internet, with Westnet first for ADSL for overall customer satisfaction.[21] A previous survey found less than a third found Bigpond to be good value for money and just as few would recommend Bigpond to a friend.[22] In this survey, Bigpond came second last, with Dodo coming last and Westnet first.[22] Bigpond is criticised for charging $150 per GB excess charges on some of its broadband plans, and for counting uploads in the monthly download allowances. According to Alexa statistical analysis of Yellow Pages traffic, Yellow Pages online website traffic is dramatically down over the last year.[23]
Subscription televisionTelstra's Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) Cable network is one of the delivery systems used by the Australian Subscription Television provider Foxtel. Telstra owns 50% of Foxtel, in a joint venture. Telstra also resell Foxtel's "Digital" products in Foxtel's service area (as Foxtel from Telstra) and AUSTAR's "Digital" product, in AUSTAR's service area (as AUSTAR from Telstra). Although Telstra does not own any share in AUSTAR, it holds the right to resell its products. Telstra has deals for current Telstra full-service customers, that either have a home phone, internet or mobile with Telstra, or a bundle of multiple Telstra services, who choose to sign up to Foxtel. Such discounts include free installation + the first month of the best Foxtel package (all channels) for free[24] Directories and advertising (Sensis)
Sensis is Telstra's wholly owned advertising and directories arm. This subsidiary was originally known as Pacific Access (since 1991), before changing its name to Sensis in August 2002[25]. Sensis publishes Australia's White Pages and Yellow Pages telephone directories, and in 2004 purchased the Trading Post, a classified advertising periodical. In addition, they manage several websites including:
Sensis are also responsible for all of Telstra's telephony directory assistance from basic 1223 (National Directories) through to 12456 (Call Connect), 1225 (International Directories) and 1234 (Premium). Market position and power
Market share data, September 2005 Telstra's market dominance extends beyond its historical PSTN voice and private data business, into newer markets such as Internet Access, Hosting, and Colocation services. In spite of competition from both foreign and domestic challengers, the former PTT is perceived to have retained a strong grip on many of the country's most profitable customers. Optus remains the company's nearest rival for lucrative business networks. However, Telstra supplies almost twice as many customers in the ASX200 with Dedicated Internet Access services. Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN)Telstra is advocating the development of a nationwide FTTN network which, in conjunction with VDSL2 technology, would enable up to 100 MBit/s symmetric download and upload speeds to the home. Competitors, such as the G9, have proposed similar developments, with both Telstra and G9 making progress on various fronts including political and regulatory expectations and funding. Telstra has indicated that it will not proceed with building the network until it receives regulatory certainty that it will not be forced to wholesale FTTN access to competitors at rates it believes are unfair. Employment
In April 2006, the appointment of Fiona Balfour saw Vish Padmanabhan demoted to his previous role of deputy CIO[26] On 6 February 2007, Chief Information Officer, Fiona Balfour left the company 10 months after she joined the company from 14 years with Qantas.[27] Telstra's employment policies have been the subject of some criticism. On ABC's (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) documentary program Four Corners, Telstra's COO Greg Winn was revealed to have stated "We run an absolute dictatorship and that?s what?s going to drive this transformation and deliver results... If you can?t get the people to go there and you try once and you try twice... then you just shoot ?em and get them out of the way..."[28] International expansionTelstra has expanded into international markets.
Sponsorship
Telstra logo up to October 2006.[32] SportingTelstra has naming rights to the Telstra Dome in Melbourne and is the naming rights sponsor to the National Rugby League premiership. Telstra is also the principal sponsor of Swimming Australia. They also sponsored Minardi for the 2002 F1 season. New ZealandTelstra also has the naming rights (under TelstraClear) for the TelstraClear Pacific events centre in Manukau City, New Zealand. ReferencesExternal links
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