Gippsland Portal Local News: Telstra Country Wide: "funding, backflip, and email"

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Gippsland Portal Local News:
Telstra Country Wide: "funding, backflip, and email"

Telstra Under Fire

The integrity of Telstra Country Wide (TCW) in question following negotiations with the Gippsland Portal, read on...

By Emma Kae - 12th November 2002 - Back to News

•Tell us your opinion •See what others have said

Telstra has come under fire with recent allegations that include phone tapping, possibly interference within the course of justice, and committing perjury.

Closer to Home

Closer to home, complaints about Telstra Countrywide's integrity and quality of service are also mounting.

Telstra Countrywide is the regionally focused branch of Telstra. According to www.telstra.com, this division claims to provide "services and support for regional Australia". It has built its reputation on warm and fuzzy tales of sponsorship, pasting the label on high profile events such as assistance for drought management earlier this year. First impressions of Telstra Countrywide are certainly favourable, but when you scrape away the carefully erected marketing framework, what has Telstra Countrywide actually offered to regional communities such as Gippsland? We are interested in getting your feedback (scroll down to find out more).

The Gippsland Portal, in an effort to extend, develop and maintain the provision of quality services for our online community, approached Telstra Countrywide, based on the company's focus for improving regional services, to enquire about the level of sponsorship that may be available. The initial reaction was very positive, and resulted in a number of meetings between Telstra Countrywide representatives John Iskra and Peter Ward and members of the Gippsland Portal Production Team Antony Svasek, Joel Edwards and Gareth Williams.

Throughout the duration of these meetings, Telstra Countrywide continuously indicated that they had intentions of pursuing a sponsorship role in the development of the Gippsland Portal. Emphasis was placed on the promotion of Telstra Countrywide services such as dial-up Internet access and ADSL through the Gippsland Portal in exchange for further funding. With trust now established between the two parties, detailed information about the Gippsland Portal infrastructure was given to the representatives of Telstra Countrywide. Following this disclosure, Telstra Countrywide announced that they viewed the Gippsland Portal as a "competitor" and would be unable to offer sponsorship after all.

How is Telstra in competition with the Gippsland Portal?

Telstra is traditionally seen as a telecommunication company that provides phone and Internet services. In recent times, Telstra have been throwing their money at various projects such as the development of a portal solution not unlike the Gippsland Portal. Overexpenditure in such areas has resulted in a massive slump in profit for the year. more (The Age) more (CNN). Telstra is now desperate to get some return on investment.

At the same time Telstra Countrywide were negotiating support for the Gippsland Portal, they were also approaching the councils of Gippsland with the intention of selling each of them Telstra's Portal Solution (TOPS), an application that already exists in the form of the Gippsland Portal. For how much you ask?

The price for this unnecessary duplication was quoted at $480,000 for set up and an additional $360,000 per annum. These costs are just for the privilege of utilising Telstra's Portal Solution did not include the additional costs that would be involved maintaining the websites (estimated at $110,000 to $250,000). This is hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be spent by the councils on improving Gippsland's economics, education and environment.

The Gippsland Portal has evidence of this in emails, SMS messages, and witnesses, but is currently seeking legal advice as to whether this information can be made public due to possible breach of confidentiality reasons.

So why is Telstra Countrywide trying to sell expensive software packages to Gippsland municipalities that already exists and have been funded and supported by the State Government?

Do you think Telstra should be focusing their efforts on connectivity and telephony in regional areas?
Do you think the councils should be spending the above sums of money on a Telstra portal solution?

Do you have any feedback regarding Telstra?

The Gippsland Portal is going to make a presentation to Telstra, to illustrate feedback from Gippslanders across the region. We would love for you to participate and have your say, either good or bad.