Telstra 2013 Annual Report Download - page 11

DEVELOPING NEW
BUSINESSES IS
IMPORTANT TO OUR
LONG-TERM GROWTH
In addition to driving growth in our core
business, we must also develop new
businesses to ensure long term growth.
Our current strategy includes three
key growth opportunities - Network
Applications and Services (NAS),
International and Media. We also have
a corporate venture capital group,
Telstra Ventures that invests in high
growth technology companies that are
strategically important to Telstra.
Telstra has also established two new
business units to focus on growth
opportunities in e-Health and global
applications.
NETWORK APPLICATIONS
AND SERVICES
NAS is a strategic growth opportunity for
Telstra domestically and internationally
with our products and services
underpinned by our core Next IP®
network. We continue to see strong
growth as we invest in this important
part of our business. In April 2013 we
signed a six year, $1.1 billion contract
with the Department of Defence for the
provision of services including unified
communications, video conferencing as
well as tablet and smartphone usage.
The agreement is the largest customer
contract in Telstra’s history and will
support military operations at home and
abroad. 350 new positions will be created
to help serve the contract, including
recruiting some of the nation’s leading IT,
network and security experts.
INTERNATIONAL
Growth into Asia is another of our key
strategic ambitions. Our international
business encompasses three lines of
business – CSL New World, Telstra
China and Telstra Global. CSL New World
is one of Hong Kong’s leading mobile
operators, which continues to increase
market share in an intensely competitive
market. Our Chinese businesses provide
digital media services in the IT, consumer
electronics and automotive segments
in which our Autohome business has
delivered significant growth during the
year. Telstra Global provides managed
network services, international data and
voice, and satellite and also manages our
submarine cable networks and assets.
During the year we signed a business
communications contract with Jetstar
and the deal is Telstra’s largest global
contract to date. We continue to expand
our capabilities in Asia including the
opening of our Singapore data centre.
We have also continued to grow outside
the Asia region.
MEDIA
We had a successful re-launch of our
AFL and NRL mobile apps ahead of the
2013 seasons for both sports. These apps
enable our customers to view the games
live on a smartphone or tablet. These
have been very successful in the market
and to date we have had over 1.5 million
AFL app downloads and 800,000 NRL
app downloads. The apps are available to
customers across all mobile providers.
Telstra’s media assets also include our
50 per cent stake in the Foxtel business.
The key focus for Foxtel continues to be
the growth of its customer base which
grew by 3.4 per cent to 2.5 million.
The Sensis directories business continues
to be challenged by the increased
competition from online and mobile
search directories and migration from
traditional print products. We completed
the acquisition of online directory
business TrueLocal during the year.
A core part of Sensis’ digital strategy
is to seek investment opportunities
that accelerate digital growth, and add
value for our customers. TrueLocal is
a business that meets those criteria
with thousands of information rich
business listings and more than 200,000
user reviews that generate millions of
searches each month. This acquisition
presents additional growth opportunities
for our customers because their content
can now be found by an even greater
number of consumers.
TELSTRA VENTURES
Telstra Ventures’ investment strategy
focuses on high growth opportunities
that offer technology and solutions which
leverage Telstra’s assets and enable
Telstra to offer new products and services
to its customers. Based in Australia and
Silicon Valley, Telstra Ventures works
closely with quality entrepreneurs to
build significant companies. Since it was
established in 2011, Telstra Ventures has
invested in eight companies, and during
financial year 2013 acquired stakes in
Kony Solutions Inc, HealthEngine, Whispir
and IP Health.
STRATEGY AND
PERFORMANCE
DEVELOPING NEW GROWTH BUSINESSES
OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
Developing New Growth Businesses
9Telstra Annual Report 2013
STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE