Australia’s Telstra is on the move, having landed operating licences in Singapore and Japan, meaning it can now deliver services in the countries.
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This latest announcement follows Telstra’s recent award of three licences in India to provide locals with international long-distance and broadband services.
In Singapore, Telstra has secured a Facilities Based Operator (FBO) licence allowing it to to own infrastructure, and offer voice and data networks, systems and facilities there.
The license was awarded by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).
It will also enable the Australian telco to build the local backbone required to support its plans for a new cable submarine capacity in Singapore.
In Japan, Telstra Japan K.K new licence allows it to own large scale telecom facilities in multiple cities and sell services.
Telstra’s goal is to be “Asian specialists” with world leading services, and today’s development is another step in that direction, it said in a statement.
In March, Telstra Chief, David Thodey, admitted: “We no longer think of ourselves as an Australian company,” and already have over 6000 employed overseas.
The telco is also to begin with services to business clients in seven Indian cities including Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai – within the next six months.
Mumbai and Chennai will be Telstra’s Indian international gateways connecting into its international network, providing direct routes into networks in Europe and Asia.
These developments allow Telstra International to further realise synergies and leverage assets gained following the Reach restructure ealier this year, according to Mr Tarek Robbiati, Group MD for Telstra International Group (TIG).
“For international customers, Telstra will now have greater control over its services. Specifically customers will enjoy access to a more comprehensive suite of connectivity and managed services, better network performance, complete monitoring, local contract billing capabilities, and in-country service centre support.
“In addition, Telstra will have greater control over network architecture design, and be in a strong position to optimise performance, multi-level resiliency, redundancy and reliability,” Mr Robbiati said.
Telstra International is one of the largest networks in Asia Pacific.