Telstra Country Wide snares country music capital

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 23 January 2007 11:15

IT Industry - Strategy

Tamworth Regional Council has awarded its entire telecommunications services contract, valued at an estimated $1.8 million over three years, to Telstra Country Wide.

The new managed contract will see Telstra provide all fixed voice, data and mobile services to the council and introduce its Next G network mobile services to staff.

Tamworth Regional Council Mayor, Councillor James Treloar, said the decision to award Telstra Country Wide its total telecommunications business had been made after "intense scrutiny of the ability of the various telco providers to fulfil the council's specific needs."

"Telecommunications services are an important part of our operations and we have to set very stringent requirements to make sure that our telco provider is able to put in place solutions that are efficient, reliable and robust," Councillor Treloar said. "More importantly, we placed great emphasis in finding a partner that will be responsive to our needs. We believe that Telstra Country Wide embodies all the qualities we look for in a regional partner."

However it would have been a very tough call for the council to snub Telstra, which is the major corporate sponsor of the Tamworth Country Music festival, currently taking place in the city. Telstra has been the major corporate and naming rights sponsor corporate sponsor since 2003 and in July 2006 announced that this arrangement would continue until 2009. The event is now known as the "Tamworth Country Music Festival presented by Telstra."Telstra said it would have over 120 staff in Tamworth throughout the festival "to assist with activities as diverse as fundraising, judging talent competitions and showcasing the latest technologies."

 Given this relationship, it is hard to see any of Telstra's competitors holding out much hope, or putting a great deal of effort into winning the business.