Source: The Australian - James Riley
28th July, 2005

The competition watchdog has renewed calls for the "genuine arm's-length" separation of Telstra's wholesale and retail businesses, as Communications Minister Helen Coonan nears the end of the Government's review of industry regulation.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Paul McIntyre
28th July, 2005

A little blood was rushing through the veins of some magazine and newspaper publishers yesterday as speculation surfaced about Telstra gutting the millions it spends in print over the next year.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Nick O'Malley Workplace Reporter
28th July, 2005

The Family First Party's senator Steve Fielding has attacked elements of the Federal Government's industrial relations legislation, casting further doubt on the likelihood it will pass through Parliament unchanged. Senator Fielding said many people would be shocked to learn they might not be paid for public holidays and would lose guaranteed "smokos" and meal breaks if the law were passed.

Source: The Age/AAP
28th July, 2005

Telstra says its obligation to provide basic phone services in rural areas is not sustainable. Telstra's new head of regulatory affairs, Kate McKenzie has dropped the bombshell in the middle of the heated political debate over the telco's full privatisation, The Australian Financial Review said on Thursday.

Source: The Age - Kate McKenzie
28th July, 2005

The reality of customer experience contrasts starkly with the seemingly unshakeable perception among some regulators and even policymakers that Telstra is a behemoth, a hugely dominant carrier that can do whatever it wants and is not constrained by competition.

Source: The Australian - Gerard McManus
27th July, 2005

More than eight million workers will lose their automatic right to meal breaks and paid public holidays under the industrial revolution being ushered in by the Howard Government. Pay for Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day will no longer be guaranteed for the vast majority of workers not covered by an award. Instead, workers will be forced to negotiate with bosses on the inclusion of such perks in future contracts and agreements.

Source: The Age - Hugh Martin
27th July, 2005

The $351 million Australian headquarters of Optus is to be the sole asset of an unlisted office trust launched by property conglomerate Stockland. The fund, Stockland Direct Office Trust No. 2, follows the launch of No. 1 last November and aims to raise $86 million from investors. Optus headquarters, under construction at Macquarie Park, Sydney, consists of six campus-style buildings totalling 84,000 square metres of office space. All are committed to Optus for an average lease of 15 years.

Source: The Land - Michael Thomson
27th July, 2005

Telecommunications and consumer groups have told the Government to stop focussing on selling Telstra and concentrate on improving competition. The Australian Consumers Association, the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) and the Competitive Carriers Coalition (CCC) united to criticise the government for its preoccupation with selling Telstra, rather than focussing on improving competition.

Source: The Age - Stephen Dabkowski
26th July, 2005

Last night in Hong Kong, the chief executives of Australia Post, China Post, Hong Kong Post, Japan Post, Korea Post and the United States Postal Service launched the largest express courier network in the Asia-Pacific region - the first alliance of its kind among postal services. Taking on private sector rivals such as FedEx and UPS, the new courier service guarantees delivery in two to five days in the six postal regions, at rates that Australia Post says are up to 40 per cent below the competition. Australia Post is already marketing the product as Express Courier International and says that in its first two months it has lifted overseas courier business 20 per cent on last year.

Source: The Australian - Michael Sainsbury
26th July, 2005

Third-placed mobile phone company Vodafone is set to outgrow its rivals for the second straight quarter, after grabbing 160,000 new customers for the three months to June 30. Vodafone now has 2.89 million directly connected customers in Australia - 3.2 million including its wholesale customers - as the market pushes past penetration of 90 per cent. Second-placed Optus has 6 million customers.

Source: ABC Online - Alan Kohler
26th July, 2005

ALAN KOHLER: Minister, do the politics of T3 mean that some sort of increase in regulation of Telstra is needed to get the sale through Parliament? NICK MINCHIN: No, I don't think you should assume that. I think we've got to look at the situation Telstra is currently in. It's one of the, probably the most regulated company in Australia and I think, by and large, the regulatory arrangements are in pretty good shape.

Source: The Age - Michelle Grattan
26th July, 2005

Federal Liberal MP Peter Lindsay has accused Nationals worried about the full sale of Telstra of wanting "a mobile phone tower up every gum tree" and warned them of a city backlash. Mr Lindsay, who holds the regional seat of Herbert, based on Townsville, told The Age that these Nationals were playing to "an emotion they can't demonstrate in practice". He declined to name anyone, but the most outspoken National on Telstra is Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce, who opposes a sale without country people being given parity of price and service into the future.

Source: The Land - Rebecca Jennings
25th July, 2005

The National Party will hold out against the sale of Telstra until it gets legislation that ensures parity of service and price for rural and regional customers, Senator Barnaby Joyce warned this week. He does not mince words. He told this week's AgForce meeting in Kingaroy. Qld, that his formula is simple: "Small government, small business, small rulebook." The new National Party Senator described other key issues as: "Too many regulations, not enough competition in the retail market, and a Government which steals from the people." The response to his comments was applause, and plenty of it.

Source: The Land - Penelope Arthur and Michael
25th July, 2005

The Nationals have given their clearest indication yet of what price the Liberal Party will have to pay for their support for the proposed sale of Telstra. The Queensland Nationals have developed a five-point proposal to go before its State Council meeting this weekend, which Federal Leader Mark Vaile says is in line with the Government's current approach. The five-point plan is believed to include: * Establishment of a multi-billion dollar trust fund to support future telecommunication upgrades; * Creation of a body under the Australian Communications Authority to report annually on service standards.

Source: The Australian - John Ferguson
22nd July, 2005

Steve Vizard used confidential emails from the highest levels of Telstra to help execute his brazen share trading deals. Court documents show in fine detail how Mr Vizard, then a Telstra board member, received and then acted on sensitive information in a bid for personal gain. Mr Vizard used a company overseen by his accountant Gregory Lay, of Bentleys MRI, to mask his covert share trading. An email sent at 7.58am on March 16, 2000, from then Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski stressed the obvious to Mr Vizard as the former comedian was in the midst of breaking the law and destroying his reputation.

Source: The Age - Colin Kruger
22nd July, 2005

Optus has flagged plans to beef up its presence in the cutthroat corporate and government market yesterday with a $25.9 million takeover bid for technical services firm Alphawest. Alphawest, which was spun off from Solution 6 in 2002 and went public via a backdoor listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in April last year, will be folded into Optus' business division if the 68¢-a-share bid succeeds.

Source: The Australian - Michael Sainsbury
21st July, 2005

Growth in Australia's $11-billion-a-year mobile phone sector is collapsing amid fierce price competition and market saturation. Both subscriber and revenue growth are believed to have slowed in the final quarter of the 2004-05 financial year as the four network players tip billions into third-generation network and services planned for launch before Christmas. The news is a bleak portent for next year's $30 billion Telstra sale as mobiles have underpinned the company's growth for the past decade as well as that of rival Optus.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Alan Kohler
20th July, 2005

The wonderful thing about the debate over regulation of Telstra ahead of T3 is that the phrase at the heart of it - "operational separation" - has no meaning. It can mean almost anything at all. It is one of those extremely useful terms that has been manufactured from thin air and meanders shyly through speech, waiting for a job to do. It is therefore extremely versatile and can be employed for a variety of tasks.

Source: ABC Online - Louise Yaxley
19th July, 2005

The Federal Government has told Telstra's new head, Sol Trujillo, it doesn't agree with his view that competition laws should be relaxed. Mr Trujillo has explained his views about the need to wind back regulation to the Communications Minister, Helen Coonan and to the Finance Minister, Nick Minchin. Senator Coonan has told Louise Yaxley she understands the Telstra chief's views but at this stage she stands by the need for strong competition laws.

Source: The Age - Stephen Bartholomeusz
19th July, 2005

The body language when Sol Trujillo met Communications Minister Helen Coonan and Finance Minister Nick Minchin last week might have been instructive because from all accounts the new Telstra CEO's attitude towards the prospect of tougher regulation as the trade-off for T3 has been hardening. Trujillo was always going to have a different approach to regulation and the regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, than his predecessor, Ziggy Switkowski.

Source: The Age - Josh Gordon
19th July, 2005

Queensland Nationals have placed a huge hurdle before the Government's plans to fully privatise Telstra. They are demanding that five tough criteria be met to "future proof" the telco and lift regional services before the full sale is even considered. The demands, which will involve multibillion-dollar spending, came as Communications Minister Helen Coonan vowed not to bow to pressure to water down competition laws designed to stop Telstra from abusing its market dominance.

Source: The Australian - Steve Lewis and James Riley
18th July, 2005

Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has delivered a blunt message to the Howard Government not to burden the company with unworkable competition laws ahead of its $30billion privatisation. In his first face-to-face meeting with senior ministers, details of which emerged yesterday, the US-born chief executive warned that Telstra's capacity to compete against its rivals would be severely diminished if heavy-handed regulation were imposed.

Source: The Australian - Andrew West and James Riley
15th July, 2005

The man charged with selling the rest of Telstra, chief executive Sol Trujillo, yesterday met the "vendor" - Prime Minister John Howard - amid mounting rural unrest over the mammoth privatisation. The NSW Farmers' Association reported that 80 per cent of voters in rural and regional NSW opposed the full privatisation of Telstra and were deeply dissatisfied with services in the bush. The results of the study will also provide ammunition for rebel Nationals MPs and senators, such as Queensland's Barnaby Joyce, who are refusing to vote for further privatisation without radical improvements to the service.

Source: The Land - Michael Thomson
15th July, 2005

The quality of telecommunications services in the bush may be held back by the government's part ownership of Telstra. In responding to a NSW Farmers' Association poll showing bush services weren't up to scratch and farmers did not want Telstra fully privatised, Prime Minister John Howard implied the government's 50pc share could actually be holding back service improvement. "We do not believe that the path to guaranteed high performance telecommunications services in the bush lies in the permanent maintenance of this current arrangement, where the company is half owned by the Government and half owned by individual taxpayers," Mr Howard said.

Source: The Land
14th July, 2005

Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor, has warned the National Party that they can�t afford to ignore the results of the NSW Farmers� Association Telecommunication Survey. The association's telecommunications survey indicates that 80pc of respondents in regional and rural Australia are still against the further sale of Telstra. "This response can�t be ignored by the National Party," he says.

Source: The Land
14th July, 2005

A damning survey released by the NSW Farmers� Association has confirmed fears that telecommunication services are beyond a joke. More than half of respondents are still reporting major problems. And 80pc are against the further sale of Telstra. President of the NSW Farmers� Association, Mal Peters, has warned that the problems �get worse as you cross the Great Divide�.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Colin Kruger and AAP
13th July, 2005

Page TTelstra has confirmed that up to 90 executives from its corporate and government sales team have been made redundant. However, the telecom insists the cuts are part of a previous review rather than the start of a cull by its new chief executive, Sol Trujillo.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Kirsty Needham
13th July, 2005

The telephone ombudsman has been fielding gripes from consumers sick of dealing with Indian call centres. "I don't want to talk to that person; they're in India," was the typical whinge, said the watchdog's quarterly newsletter. But unless dialling from Delhi led to an unfair consequence - such as a customer not having a matter understood - it was no grounds for complaint. The ombudsman's office said it was none of its business where companies decided to locate. The flood of marketing calls from India may have created a wider backlash. The office revealed its own staff, from a range of cultural backgrounds, were sick of complaints about their accents.

Source: The Australian - Chris Jenkins
7th July, 2005

The final pieces of an expected pre-Christmas 3G mobile onslaught are falling into place. Vodafone this week will become the last major carrier to put its next-generation service through its paces before launch. The trial will involve both laptop data access cards and mobile phones linked to the web-like Vodafone Live service already available on existing 2.5G GPRS phones.

Source: The Age - Rebecca Urban and Colin Kruger
7th July, 2005

Telstra Corporation's new chief executive, Solomon Trujillo, might take home the sort of pay packet that allows chauffeur-driven travel, but that hasn't stopped him wearing out the shoe leather since he hit town.

Source: The Land - Graham Fuller
7th July, 2005

National Farmers Federation president, Peter Corish, remains dubious about the Federal Government?s ?future-proofing? policy, which aims to ensure rural people are not disadvantaged by the Telstra sale. He says Canberra?s claims that 30 out of 39 Estens report recommendations (tabled in 2003) largely have been met do not stand up to close scrutiny. ?My view is they would be struggling to be half the total number," Mr Corish said when speaking to Queensland Country Life editorial staff at the paper?s offices at Ormiston on Queensland?s bayside late last week. The noted Goondiwindi district grain and cotton grower says by any yardstick, Telstra?s repairs performance is ?going down,? also the timeframes associated with fixing necessary call-outs.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Garry Barker
6th July, 2005

Telstra's new chief executive, Sol Trujillo, is thought to have recruited a trio of American executives to shake up the company's marketing and corporate communications departments. Company insiders say Mr Trujillo is about to bring in a team of US executives he worked with at USWest and Orange, the telcos he ran before coming to Australia. Telstra won't confirm or deny the information. The trio, named as Bill Stewart, Phil Burgess and Greg Winn, are long-time associates of Mr Trujillo's.

Source: The Australian - Brad Norington and Michael Bachelard
6th July, 2005

The Howard Government has endorsed employees cashing out half of their annual leave each year, sparking claims it wants to reduce the holiday entitlements of workers to the US standard of just two weeks.

Source: The Age
6th July, 2005

Staff working in federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews' department will walk off the job today as tension over the government's planned industrial relations changes reaches fever pitch. Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) employees will stop work at midday (AEST) in Canberra and rally until 1.30pm to protest over a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Anne Lampe
5th July, 2005

After nine months of legal argument, the civil action mounted against former One.Tel director Jodee Rich and former finance director Mark Silbermann has moved to hearing the first account of the company's dying months. One.Tel collapsed on May 30, 2001, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which has mounted the civil action, is seeking declarations that Mr Rich and Mr Silbermann breached their duties as officers of the company. It also is seeking $93 million in compensation. Full story.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Harvey Grennan
5th July, 2005

A group of 25 regional cities is demanding "high-capacity broadband infrastructure right across Australia" within five years as part of the full privatisation of Telstra. The demand comes as Telstra backs away from comments about councils contributing to the cost of telecommunications infrastructure. A meeting of the Regional Cities Telecommunications Forum in Sydney representing cities from Rockhampton to Ballarat resolved that access to high-speed broadband was "absolutely critical" to ensure Australia remained globally competitive.

Source: The Age - Colin Kruger
5th July, 2005

It was Sol Trujillo's second day in the office as Telstra's new chief executive, but the company was already on the back foot yesterday denying rumours its new broom had swept out one of the old guard - technology and innovation chief Ted Pretty. The denial followed speculation that Mr Pretty had resigned to continue his career at a US telco. "No. I'm here, I'm enthusiastic, and I'm committed to Telstra," Mr Pretty said in a prepared statement yesterday.

Source: The Australian - Michael Sainsbury
5th July, 2005

New Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo has recruited a hand-picked team of former US colleagues to oversee sweeping changes to marketing and communications strategy. The marketing changes will be skippered by Mr Trujillo's long-time colleagues Bill Stewart and Phil Burgess.Mr Trujillo will also bring in Greg Winn, his chief operating officer from a former employer, telco US West, and failed dotcom Graviton.

Source: ABC Online
5th July, 2005

New polls have shown a sharp drop in support for Prime Minister John Howard after last week's nationwide protests against the Government's proposed industrial relations changes. The AC Neilsen poll for the Fairfax newspapers shows Mr Howard's personal approval has dropped 10 per cent to 49 per cent. A Newspoll conducted for The Australian showed the Prime Minister's rating down 7 percent to 47 per cent.

Source: ABC Online - Andrew Geoghegan
4th July, 2005

New Telstra boss, Sol Trujillo, received a rude welcome today when he turned up for his first day at work today. He's dealing with the parting comments of his predecessor, Ziggy Switkowski, who's said that Telstra faces a tough time ahead. Business analysts say now that Mr Switkowski has vacated what?s arguably the most difficult and heavily scrutinised role in Australian business, he?s finally telling it like it is. And while his comments have not had too much effect on the share price, there is concern about their impact on the Government's planned sale of its remaining stake in the telco.

Source: The Australian - AAP
4th July, 2005

The first talks between new Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce and the party's incoming leader have failed to allay the Queenslander's concerns about key government reforms. With a majority of just one seat in the new Senate, the Federal Government has to persuade some of its own senators to back controversial legislation including industrial relations changes, the full sale of Telstra and legislation on voluntary student unionism.

Source: The Australian - Glenda Korporaal
4th July, 2005

Telstra's new chief executive, Sol Trujillo, would have to write off more than $1 billion if he wants to sell off the company's Hong Kong mobile company CSL, according to Hong Kong analysts. Analysts both there and in Australia have speculated that the new chief executive might review Telstra's Hong Kong investments, which were part of the failed Asian expansion strategy announced by former chief executive Ziggy Switkowski at the top of the telco and dotcom market in 2000.

Source: The Age - Garry Barker
1st July, 2005

Sol Trujillo sits down with his senior executive team at Telstra headquarters on Exhibition Street, Melbourne, this morning with much on his shoulders, not least the approaching knockdown-drag out battle for supremacy in 3G broadband wireless mobile telephony.

Source: The Age - Josh Gordon
1st July, 2005

The Federal Government is stepping up plans to fully privatise Telstra after yesterday receiving a secret study that canvassed sale options and claimed rural telecommunications services are improving. Investment house UBS Warburg, advisory company Caliburn and legal firm Freehills delivered the 1100-page options paper to Finance Minister Nick Minchin's office. The so-called "scoping" study, which will not be released publicly because it is commercially sensitive, provides extensive advice on how to structure the $30 billion share sale - including whether to offload the Government's 51.8 per cent stake in chunks or all at once.

Source: The Age - Angela O'Connor, Dewi Cooke
1st July, 2005

The Labor Party and the union movement have vowed to intensify their fight against the Federal Government's industrial relations changes after tens of thousands of workers yesterday took to the streets of capital cities and rallied in protest at the proposed overhaul. Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, addressing a crowd in Melbourne estimated by organisers at up to 120,000 people, pledged that a Labor government would wind back many of the changes, including those affecting unfair dismissal, restrictions on unions and the new minimum wage-fixing mechanism.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Scott Rochfort
1st July, 2005

Waiting for authorities to move is not the most efficient way of doing business. The Singapore Telecommunications gabfest in Singapore this week may have revealed one of the worst kept secrets of its subsidiary Optus: the Australian No.2 telecom has already begun to roll out its DSL broadband infrastructure. "Optus stated that its target is to have 88 exchanges by December 2005 and 150 by March 2006," the broker said. Apparently, Optus is not waiting for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to ensure it gets a fair deal from Telstra. Optus will broker a deal with its larger rival directly, as have smaller rivals like iiNet with their own infrastructure.

Source: ABC Online
1st July, 2005

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released a report outlining concerns about how Telstra is treating its competitor customers. The competition watchdog says it has noticed a problem with Telstra providing an inferior level of service for some connections and fault repairs. Telecommunications manager Michael Cosgrave says the problem could affect the business of Telstra's wholesale customers.

Source: ABC Online - Alan Kohler
1st July, 2005

Selling the rest of Telstra is second to industrial relations reform on Prime Minister John Howard's 'to do' list now that he has control of the Senate. It means that, along with the union movement, Telstra and its place in the nation is at a turning point. The National Party I reckon is right to worry about what full privatisation means for services in the bush. The new chief executive Sol Trujillo will be hard on costs and underperforming divisions. Telstra will focus resources where it makes the most profits, and that is not remote Australia.

Source: ABC Online
1st July, 2005

The Nationals' new Senator Barnaby Joyce from Queensland says he will not support the sale of the rest of Telstra until there is parity of service between customers in the cities and in the bush. And he wants to see additional funding for telecommunications infrastructure in regional Australia.