In an exclusive interview with Smarthouse three months ago, Telstra CEO David Thodey was singing the praises of Justin Milne the head of BigPond. Now Milne has suddenly quit the national carrier, with Telstra and Milne offering no explanation as to why.Milne who had recently been empowered to built a portfolio of content for Telstra, across their BigPond, Smartphone an set top box offerings was described as a “key member of the Telstra team” following the recent exit of David Moffatt the former Managing director of consumer operations at Telstra.

During the exclusive interview with Thodey in Las Vegas, he admitted that a new communication and content landscape was emerging and that Telstra needed to re-think the way in which it will deliver and sell services in the future.

He said that 3D content, Skype delivered to TV sets in the home and new devices such as the Tablet PC were set to change the way Telstra sold products and services, with content and broadband services set to play a key role in future revenues.

He said that the recent promotion of Justine Milne, Telstra’s Group Managing Director for BigPond Voice and Media service, was a key step for Telstra, with Milne now having the added responsibility of integrating new media and content services into Telstra’s broadband and data offerings.

The departure of Mr Milne, the head of Big Pond, sparked concerns of deeper unrest within Telstra with Thodey tipped to make a statement this week.

Speculation is mounting that Milne by have been headhunted by an overseas consortium who are set to launch a competitor to Foxtel.

The Australian newspaper said that Milne’s departure comes at a crucial time for Telstra, with decisions due soon on whether it will support the government’s NBN proposals, and as it is putting together next year’s budgets.