Two years ago, Telstra announced its vision to become a world-class technology business that enables people to connect. Telstra Wholesale is a vital part of enabling that vision to be successful, and while the telecommunications network and infrastructure will continue to be the backbone of this country, driving value towards applications and services is where we are building on our current capabilities and skills.

To enable this we have undertaken a number of initiatives, the biggest of which has been to increase our level of strategic investment by $3bn to help us differentiate the business for the future.

Having the best networks in Australia will always be the cornerstone of our business and we will continue to leverage our assets to enable us to deliver fantastic solutions to our customers. However, there is no technology innovation happening today that doesn’t rely on being connected in some way. We need to make sure that we’re positioned to take full advantage of this opportunity by strengthening our capabilities, which in turn will make sure that customers have the best experiences on our network.

To help deliver that strategic value layer, we’ve prioritised becoming a more innovative business. We’ve made over 45 investments through our investment arm, Telstra Ventures as well as seen growth in our Muru D accelerator, Telstra Labs and our co-creation areas. This strategy has seen Telstra become ranked number one in innovation in the ASX top 50 companies.

Telstra Wholesale is a big part of enabling innovation within the wider Telstra business. Parts of the Wholesale new business groups have moved back into the customer lines of business and you’ll be hearing lots from the team about how we’re co-creating with you through innovative businesses such as Neto – It is key to our mutual success.

While the network will always be one of our core strengths, our traditional legacy business continues to decline and mobile will be a core connectivity layer. The launch of innovative new mobile services such as Belong ensures that Telstra Wholesale adds strategic value, co-creating with you to deliver better services and experiences.

Great steps have been made over the last two years, but we also recognise there is a still a way to go. We’re extremely confident that through leveraging our existing assets and remaining focused on providing a strategic layer to enable even greater experiences on our network, we’ll deliver the fundamental technology innovation you need to deliver fantastic solutions to your customers.