asx tls nzx tls otc pink tlsyy industry telecommunication founded 12 june 1975 ; 41 years ago 1975 06 12 1 headquarters telstra corporate centre melbourne australia area served australia full product set & global selected corporate services key people andy penn ceo warwick bray cfo john mullen chair products fixed line and mobile telephony internet and data services network services digital television revenue a 27.1 billion 2016 2 operating income a 6.3 billion 2016 profit a 5.8 billion 2016 2 total assets a 40.45 billion 2015 2 total equity a 14.51 billion 2015 2 number of employees 36 165 2015 2 website www.telstra.com telstra global headquarters at 242 exhibition st melbourne cbd telstra corporation limited known as telstra is australia s largest telecommunications and media company which builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice mobile internet access pay television and other entertainment products and services . telstra has a long history in australia originating together with australia post as a government department the postmaster general s department . telstra is now fully privatised and has been undergoing a change program to become more customer focused under its recent ceo david thodey . new ceo andy penn is expected to increase the focus on growth in international markets . the federal government s national broadband network nbn is causing changes to the industry and will see the company progressively sell its copper and hfc networks to nbn co. telstra head office asx registered office is the telstra corporate centre located at 242 exhibition st melbourne australia . contents 1 history 1.1 overseas telecommunications commission 1.2 privatisation 1.3 national broadband network 2 strategy and execution 2010 onwards 2.1 market share recovery 2.2 customer service recovery 2.3 telstra digital 2.4 mergers & acquisitions 2.5 retail store network 2.6 new brand 2.6.1 sponsorships and awards 2.7 share price development 2.8 sale of sensis 2.9 new health business unit 2.9.1 telstra health acquisitions 2.10 national broadband network nbn 2.11 new ceo appointed 3 company performance financial year 4 products and services 4.1 fixed line and mobile telephony 4.2 internet 4.2.1 wholesale 4.2.2 retail internet bigpond 4.2.2.1 cable internet 4.2.2.2 adsl internet 4.2.2.3 mobile broadband 4.2.2.4 satellite internet 4.2.2.5 dial up internet 4.3 subscription television 4.4 directories and advertising sensis 4.5 entertainment and content 5 mobile networks 5.1 next g network 5.1.1 network design 5.2 4gx 6 market position 7 management 8 international holdings 9 selected events 9.1 wotnext 9.2 privacy investigation 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit telecom australia logo 1975 1993 . australian telecommunications services were originally controlled by the postmaster general s department pmg 3 formed in 1901 as a result of 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 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 name telstra is derived from the word telecommunication australia tel from telecommunication and stra from 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 . telstra has faced competition since the early 1990s from optus australia s second largest communication company and a number of smaller providers . it retains ownership of the fixed line telephone network as well as pay tv and data cable network 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 . overseas telecommunications commission edit otc logo former otc dish at ceduna south australia . the overseas telecommunications commission otc was established by an act of parliament in august 1946 . 4 it inherited facilities and resources from amalgamated wireless australasia limited awa and cable & wireless and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into through and out of australia . citation needed on 1 february 1992 it was merged with australia s domestic telecommunications carrier the australian telecommunications corporation limited telecom to create the australian and overseas telecommunications corporation limited aotc . the new organisation underwent a corporate identity review and was subsequently renamed telstra corporation limited telstra for international business in 1993 and domestic business in 1995 . 3 when it was established in 1946 the otc inherited facilities that had been depleted during world war ii and faced rising costs and falling profits . citation needed throughout rapid developments in undersea cable networks global satellite systems and burgeoning digital technologies the otc maintained a keen watch over its services to ensure continued quality . it also maintained and developed its links with maritime services one of the initial arms of australia s international telecommunications network . privatisation edit telstra was privatised in three different stages informally known as t1 3.30 t2 7.40 and t3 3.60 in 1997 1999 and 2006 respectively . 3 5 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 . 5 in 1999 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 % . 6 the 17 % remainder of telstra was placed in australia s future fund which will provide superannuation and pensions for australia s public servants . 7 in 2009 the future fund sold off another 2.4 billion worth of shares reducing the government s stake in telstra to 10.9 % . 8 in august 2011 the future fund sold its remaining above market weight telstra shares effectively completing telstra s privatisation . 9 with over one million shareholders telstra is currently the most widely held asx listed company . 10 telstra phone booths showing the current colour scheme replacing the former orange logo with shades of green and blue . national broadband network edit main article national broadband network 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 . 11 12 as a result telstra was removed from the national broadband network rfp process on 15 december 2008 . 13 in response telstra has announced that it will 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 . 14 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 . 15 nbn co signed a definitive agreement with telstra on 23 june 2011 estimated to be worth a 9 billion post tax net present value 16 building upon the signing of a financial heads of agreement a year beforehand . 17 telstra agreed to disconnect 18 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 their mobile network as an alternative to the nbn for a number of years . 16 telstra remains the owner of its networks . 19 on 18 october 2011 telstra shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal . 20 on 14 december 2014 it was announced that in a a 11b renegotiated deal telstra will transfer ownership of its copper and hybrid fibre coaxial hfc 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 . 21 strategy and execution 2010 onwards edit under the leadership of david thodey telstra embarked upon a transformation agenda to become more sales and service focused . as part of that an ambitious customer service agenda was defined . 22 in 2014 telstra was named most respected company by the australian financial review newspaper . 23 market share recovery edit early in 2010 telstra announced the creation of a 1 billion fighting fund to be used in a concerted effort to win back market share in key product categories . this effort seems to have paid off with strong sales momentum announced in february 2011 . 24 customer service recovery edit as part of its new strategy telstra announced that its goal is for customer service to be fundamental to everything we do . 25 the following table shows total complaints handled by the telecommunications industry ombudsman tio and of those the ones made against telstra . year total complaints complaints about telstra source 2010 167 772 78 611 26 2011 197 682 78 949 27 2012 193 702 69 991 28 2013 158 652 57 298 29 2014 138 946 58 009 30 2015 124 417 55 529 31 telstra digital edit in february 2011 telstra announced the formation of telstra digital under the leadership of gerd schenkel who was hired from national australia bank ubank . 32 33 34 telstra digital s initial purpose was to improve the use of digital channels for customer service . in march 2011 telstra digital launched new mobile phone plans that included electronic bills and payments and levy a 2 charge for paper bills . 35 in april 2011 telstra digital relaunched its web homepage design . 36 in july 2011 telstra digital launched crowdsupport an online forum to crowd source customer service . 37 as of july 2013 telstra s crowdsupport had 65 000 members and 77 000 posts . 38 it was also cited as an example of scaling at the edge by deloitte s centre for the edge . 39 in august 2011 telstra digital announced expansion of customer service into social media with 24 7 coverage . 40 in june 2013 telstra was ranked ninth in large australian companies in establishing a presence on facebook 41 and in may 2013 telstra was ranked fifth globally in the quality of its customer service on facebook . 42 as of august 2013 telstra 24 7 was ranked 1 in the quality of its customer service within australia ousting vodafone and optus which trailed at third and fourth place respectively . 42 by november 2012 telstra claimed 140 000 live chats for the month and a growth rate of this service of 600 % p.a. 43 in october 2013 telstra announced that it had grown its live chat workforce to 600 and its social media workforce to 30 . 44 in september 2011 telstra digital launched a new account services portal to help achieve its goal of managing 35 % of telstra s transactions . 45 in october 2011 telstra digital announced a new mobile smartphone optimised version of its website . 46 in november 2011 telstra digital launched an iphone app on a trial basis 47 as well as a new online mobile phone shop . 48 in july 2012 telstra digital launched smartphone and facebook apps for customers to manage their telstra accounts 49 and in november 2012 telstra claimed that over 700 000 customers