Telstra lagging behind in technology
Sep 19, 2005 Current Events, ISPs, Telco, Telstra
Telstra in need of a big technological fix to stay in the game (Sydney Morning Herald / Rod Myer and Garry Barker)
From the article: “New chief executive Sol Trujillo will release his strategy to transform the telecom next month. The transformation could take three to five years to really pay off but timidity and slow movement are no longer an option as Telstra struggles to re-engineer itself to meet the realities of technological change.
These dictate that the future will be in internet phone and television, massive levels of data transfer, personalised information services and video on demand, all operating on broadband, cable and wireless networks.
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The old copper network yields Telstra a whopping 60 per cent profit margin but customers are deserting it. Ian Martin, telecom analyst with ABN Amro, expects land-line revenue, which fell from $8 billion in 2003-04 to $7.5 billion last year, will drop a further 7 per cent this year to $7 billion.”
The last mile copper network is Telstra’s biggest asset by a long shot. Virtually all DSL based connections sold in Australia rely on Telstra’s copper to reach into the household of office of the customers. The high wholesale cost charged to ISPs and other carriers for the use of the copper is driving them towards alternative technologies such as wireless. Some of the newer wireless providers such as iBurst and Unwired have no such dependencies on Telstra for reaching their customers enabling them to provide services at a lower cost. If Telstra does nothing to address this trend their largest asset will become irrelevant.
The Age takes a look at some VoIP providers
Sep 16, 2005 VoIP
Why talk is cheap (The Age / Roulla Yiacoumi )
The Age has taken a look at some of the VoIP options for consumers which are available in Australia, and compares the costs to equivalent PSTN services. Its quite a comprehensive article while at the same time not being too technical for the average consumer to understand. I’d certainly recommend giving it a read if you’re considering getting a new VoIP service at home.
Telstra’s network ‘plagued with faults’
Sep 7, 2005 Current Events, Telstra
Network ‘plagued with faults’ (Australian IT / Michael Sainsbury and Steve Lewis)
From the article: “TELSTRA’S copper network is suffering record fault rates because the telco has withheld up to $3 billion worth of crucial investment, according to the document at the centre of an investigation into the company.
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The company revealed for the first time that the state of its copper network was much worse that expected. In a slide it outlined the problems with its network. Heading the list of bad news was that Telstra had “received 14.3 million fault calls (more than 14 per cent of all lines have faults);”
That is indeed a lot of faults.