One of Australia’s biggest telecommunication providers has reassessed its business model in order to adapt to the rollout of the National Broadband Network. Dimi Kyriakou reports.

As with every telecommunications provider in the country, Telstra is in the running to develop a range of new products and services that will take full advantage of the possibilities that the National Broadband Network (NBN) has to offer.

The company recently presented its approach at the annual Connected Home Conference in Sydney, which discussed the current state of the NBN and how the home automation industry is set to benefit from the rollout.

Telstra Home Devices general manager Marc Tan, who spoke at the conference, is responsible for the development and life cycle management of the company’s consumer fixed line devices, as well as powerline and wireless devices.

He says that Telstra has worked hard to bring the concept of the digital home to the Australian market, with the T-Hub and T-Box standing as the centrepieces of its ‘triple play’ bundle of voice, broadband and IP media services.

“In terms of the connected home, we’re focusing on five key areas: the service of leading brands for video, content and applications; devices such as the T-Hub and T-Box; support through Telstra Plus premium customer service; a network of high-speed access with end-to-end quality of service; and most importantly customer experience,” he says.

“We plan to get the content, build the networks, develop the devices, provide the services and bring it all together for a customer. Telstra is aware of the challenges in such a rapidly growing space as the NBN and we aim to deliver value in our pricing plans by differentiating our products and services. We don’t just want to be a service provider – it’s about delivering a complete solution for the customer.”

Ultimately, the delivery of high speed broadband to Australian homes and businesses is going to set the pace for exponential growth in the sector. Given this, Marc says that the number of consumers who purchase IP devices will continue to increase – and the industry must be prepared for that.

“There is currently an incredible opportunity in the IT or broadband space. It’s important for a consumer to look at the service that they’re getting in order to receive some real value from the provider.”

From Telstra’s perspective, the digital home is enabling households and businesses to connect with multiple internet-connected devices and deliver a range of entertainment communication services and applications. In response to this, products such as the T-Touch Tablet, Ruckus Media Flex and Netgear Powerline have all been developed to link into this high-speed broadband initiative.

“We want to play into the bundle space and offer broadband, not just in its own right, but with voice and video as well. We believe that the digital home is going to be the new battleground for broadband service providers. Since we launched the T-Hub and T-Box earlier this year, we’ve sold over 100,000 of these services. That’s pretty interesting considering the technologies that they reflect,” he says.

“When you think about the digital home from a service operator like Telstra, it’s not just about what you’re doing in the fixed line; it’s about how you bring it all together for the consumer as well.”