Trujillo gone, Telstra chops Brightstar pie

Renai LeMay
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 12:30

IT Industry - Deals

One of the most contentious relics of the Trujillo era at Telstra has been partially put out with the garbage, with the news this morning that the telco had sliced a large piece of the pie out of its long-running relationship with handsets wholesaler Brightstar.

In March 2006, Telstra inked an exclusive deal with the US company to manage its supply chain '” including the provision of handsets, inventory management, retail fulfilment and so on.

The deal immediately raised hackles in the industry. CRN reported at the time that Telstra's then-suppliers, Brightpoint and Roadhound, had been left wondering why no formal tendering process took place, and reports immediately surfaced of close links between then-new Telstra chief Sol Trujillo and chief operations officer Greg Winn and Brightstar.

The deal '” expected to be worth billions '” would end up being only one of a number of controversial contracts signed during the Trujillo period, with a stir being caused in the industry about what some saw as a lack of due process in Telstra's tendering initiatives.

This morning, the AustralianIT reported that Telstra had taken its handset supply needs back in-house from the supplier, a year and a half following Trujillo's departure.