NXTcomm: Extreme Network Makeover -- Telstra Edition

Australian service provider Telstra already is reaping the benefits of a wireless network overhaul, which is part of its five-year company transformation plan begun in 2005, according to CEO Sol Trujillio, in a keynote speech Monday at NXTcomm. 

The carrier moved from a 2G CDMA network, which it shut down in April, to what Trujillo calls a “next G” network. Telstra claims the move has enabled it to increase its average revenue per user by $20. In 18 months, he said the number of customers using the 3G network has risen from to more than 40 percent.

Telstra also found that its newer wireless customers spend 45 percent more than those on its basic 2G service. The company also found that, as of 2008, its customers were spending more time online than watching TV.

Integrating Wireless and Wireline Services

The company is spending billions on the wireless network makeover as well as on advancements in its fixed-line operation, with a keen eye focused on integrating the user experience by integrating services, according to the CEO. Roughly 44 percent of Telstra customers now buy multiple service from the operator.

The carrier now reaches 99 percent of the country’s population with 14.4mbps peak wireless throughput speed and is looking to move well beyond that in network fronts with help from the likes of Ericsson Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., said Trujillo.

“The future holds simply streams with no uploads or downloads, just like electricity, which just flows,” predicted Trujillo.

Trujillo credited direct customer research, including interviews with more than 900,000 subscribers, as the key and first step to the network -- and company -- makeover. “We went from an under-performing market share-losing bureaucracy to one that believes in asking customers what they want,” admitted Trujillo, who called the customer research undertaking the largest in Australia’s corporate history.

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