“Telstra is the only network operator with ubiquitous network infrastructure”

The above statement in one of no great surprise on a Telstra site such as NWAT. What would you say however if I told you this statement was made by Singtel/Optus?

I thought I might divert from my usual subject matter this week to highlight some quite incredible statements made recently by SingTel/Optus to the ACCC.

In a submission made on January 10, 2008 by Tim Sparks, Optus Manager, Economic Regulation, this and other similar statements, none that I would dispute but startling in that they were made by one of our competitors, were made in a submission requesting a segment specific exemption in terms of removing regulation in respect of WLR/LCS.

Singtel/Optus were arguing that regulation should be maintained in respect of the Corporate and Government segment (defined by Optus as business with at least 200 employees) it appears largely on the basis that Optus felt it could not compete with Telstra unless having such regulated access to Telstra services. Some of the other statements made in the submission:

• “Before a service provider can even bid for a customer’s business, it will need to have arrangements in place with Telstra (the only provider with ubiquitous coverage) to be able to provide all services requested at all the customer’s sites, including arrangements to ensure that Telstra delivers on its commitments, eg, SLAs and business critical service faults”
•  “Telstra is the only network operator currently capable of supplying all of these complex business features to all business sites”
• “The withdrawal of services by Telstra could place Optus Business in breach of its existing customer contracts, and place at risk not only the revenue generated from those services, but all revenue associated with that customer account. This is because many customers would prefer to move all their services to Telstra for the simplicity and convenience of managing only one telecommunications provider and only one bill, rather than changing service providers for only a small number of sites.”

What does this all mean?

For me as someone who is often out on the road talking to our corporate and government customers about why they should have their business with Telstra, Tim simply affirms some of our key value propositions:

• Telstra owns, maintains and manages our infrastructure providing our customers “one butt to kick” in terms of service assurance. Business Value = single point of contact, maximum business uptime = maximum revenue growth/business efficiency
• The requirements of business customers are sometime complex. Only Telstra, according to Singtel/Optus, can satisfy these requirements across a range of sites. Business Value = the services you need, where you need them = maximum revenue opportunity/business effectiveness
• I agree with Tim that customers do value “Telstra for the simplicity and convenience of managing only one telecommunications provider and only one bill”. Business Value = Efficiency of only managing only one supplier relationship, including billing = Cost Savings

Anyway, that’s my blog for this week and I am ready for plenty of responses given this is a bit more controversial than my usual entries. Re the Optus submission, which should be read in full to appreciate context, it is publicly available on the ACCC website and was reported in Communications Day on 16 Jan 08.