The era of Ziggy Switkowski at the helm of Telstra is over. Dr Switkowski, whose departure was announced by chairman Donald McGauchie earlier today, will leave the carrier by July 2005, unless a replacement CEO can be found earlier. His departure will be a full two years earlier than his seven year tenure.

Dr Zwitkowski's reign as CEO was largely marked by a series of mishaps, such as the $1 billion PCCW misadventure and the demise of IT services firm Advantra. Recent financial results have also shown an alarming drop in voice call revenues.

Telstra has also been criticised for its alacrity in offering higher grade broadband services and questions have been raised over attempts to diversify through $1billion of recent business purchases, including IT services firm Kaz and classified ads publication Trading Post.

During Dr Zwitkowski's time at Telstra, the company's share price has dipped by more than 40% and there has been a growing chorus from within the investment community calling for his departure. Whether his successor can do any better with a juggernaut carrier that does not seem to be geared to cope with the rapidly changing Australian and global telecommunications landscape remains to be seen.

Dr Zwitkowski's termination payment of just over $2 million could be considered relatively modest by global standards, given his contract has two more years to run.