Telstra

Telstra Corporation Limited provides telecommunications and information services to businesses, governments, and individuals in Australia and internationally. It operates in four segments: Telstra Consumer and Small Business, Telstra Enterprise, Networks and IT, and Telstra InfraCo. The company offers telecommunication, media and technology products and services in Australia using mobile and fixed network technologies, as well as operates call centres, retail stores, a dealership network, digital channels, distribution systems and a Telstra Plus customer loyalty program. 

It also provides network capacity and management, unified communications, cloud, security, industry solutions, integrated and monitoring services to government and large enterprise and business customers; wholesale services, including voice and data; and telecommunication products and services to other carriers, carriage service providers, and internet service providers, as well as builds and manages digital platforms. In addition, the company operates the fixed passive network infrastructure, including data centres, exchanges, poles, ducts, pits and pipes, and fibre network; provides wholesale customers with access to network infrastructure; provides long-term access to components of infrastructure under the infrastructure services agreement; designs and constructs fibre, exchanges, and other infrastructure; and operates the passive and physical mobile tower assets owned or operated by the Amplitel Pty Ltd. 

The company was formerly known as Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation Limited and changed its name to Telstra Corporation Limited in April 1993. Telstra Corporation Limited was founded in 1901 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Australia's telecommunications services were originally controlled by the Postmaster-General's Department, formed in 1901 as a result of the Australian Federation. Prior to 1901, telecommunications were administered by each colony. On 1 July 1975, separate commissions were established by statute to replace the PMG. Responsibility for postal services was transferred to the Australian Postal Commission. The Australian Telecommunications Commission, trading as Telecom Australia, ran domestic telecommunication services.

In 1993, 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 which continued trading under the established identities of Telecom and OTC. The AOTC was renamed Telstra Corporation Limited in 1993. The name "Telstra" is derived from the word Telecom Australia. The corporation then traded under the "Telstra" brand internationally and "Telecom Australia" domestically until uniform branding of "Telstra" was introduced throughout the entire organisation in 1995, following an unsuccessful attempt to register the trademark "Telecom Australia".

Telstra has faced competition since the early 1990s from Optus and a number of smaller providers. Telstra once retained ownership of the fixed-line telephone network, but since the nationwide upgrade to the National Broadband Network, the Australian Government now has had legal ownership of these lines since 2007, though Telstra has played a big part in this upgrade supplying resources to the Government on the new network. Telstra also has pay TV and owns 35% of the Australian media company Foxtel. Other companies offering fixed-line services must therefore deal with Telstra, except Optus, TransACT and a few others who have installed their own infrastructure.

The Overseas Telecommunications Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in August 1946. It inherited facilities and resources from Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited and Cable & Wireless and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into, through and out of Australia. On 1 February 1992, it was merged with Australia's domestic telecommunications carrier, the Australian Telecommunications Corporation Limited, to create the Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation Limited. The new organisation underwent a corporate identity review and was subsequently renamed Telstra Corporation Limited for international business in 1993 and domestic business in 1995.

Beginning in 1997 and finalizing in 2011, the federal government began to privatise the corporation. The first three stages were initiated by the Liberal–National Coalition's Howard Government: the first, informally known as "T1" , occurred in 1997. "T2" followed in 1999; "T3" in 2006.

In T1, the government sold one-third of its shares in Telstra for A$14 billion and publicly listed the company on the Australian Stock Exchange. In 1998, a further 16% of Telstra shares were sold to the public, leaving the Australian 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 ownership of Telstra to 17%. The 17% remainder of Telstra was placed in Australia's Future Fund, a sovereign wealth fund established mainly to meet future liabilities for payment of superannuation to retired federal public servants. In 2009, the Future Fund sold off another $2.4 billion worth of shares, reducing the government's stake in Telstra to 10.9%. In August 2011, under Labor's Gillard Government, the Future Fund sold its remaining "above market weight" Telstra shares, effectively completing Telstra's privatisation. With more than one million shareholders, Telstra is currently the most widely held ASX-listed company.

On 26 November 2008, Telstra submitted a non-complying tender issued by the federal government to build a National Broadband Network, a 12-page letter proposing a $5 billion broadband network covering between 80 and 90 percent of the Australian population in major cities, despite the tender requiring 98 percent coverage. As a result, Telstra was removed from the National Broadband Network RFP process on 15 December 2008. In response, Telstra announced that it would raise speeds on its existing Next G network and HFC "cable" network so that they both offer higher speeds than the RFP for the NBN requires. 

Following Telstra's exclusion from the National Broadband Network bidding process Telstra's share price suffered the biggest one-day percentage fall in its history.NBN Co Limited signed a definitive agreement with Telstra on 23 June 2011, estimated to be worth A$9 billion post-tax net present value, building upon the signing of financial heads of agreement a year beforehand. Telstra agreed to "disconnect" its Internet customers from the copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial networks in areas where FTTP has been installed and agreed to lease dark fibre, exchange space and ducts to NBN Co. As part of the agreement, Telstra would not be able to market its mobile network as an alternative to the NBN for a number of years. Telstra remains the owner of its networks. On 18 October 2011, Telstra shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal. 

On 14 December 2014, it was announced that in an A$11b renegotiated deal Telstra will transfer ownership of its copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial networks to NBN while disconnecting premises from these networks. This ownership allows NBN Co to use these networks "where it sees fit in for its multi-technology NBN rollout."

“We build technology and content solutions that are simple, easy to use and valued by our customers. We strive to serve and know our customers better than anyone else.”

"To improve the way people live and work."