In one of the biggest signs of faith in artificial intelligence’s growing future Down Under the market has seen yet, Telstra Group (ASX:TLS) has pulled the trigger on a $700 million investment in AI across its entire business structure.
The stapled-on Aussie telecommunications heavyweight is teaming up with New York-listed Accenture to overhaul its operations with a greatly expanded AI focus.
The deal, first reported by the AFR and to be announced on Wednesday, will see Telstra spend up to $100M a year for the next seven years – through to 2031 at least – and may see “job losses across the business” through the transition.
(Telstra axed as many as 2,800 positions in 2024 as it made cost-cutting changes.)
Telstra has been using AI through some of its systems already, including in-house programming like its “Ask Telstra” bot and “one sentence summary” FAQ web pages.
The idea behind the seven-year, $700M Telstra-Accenture team-up is to “rapidly scale” the AI systems already in place as well as formally introduce new and existing programs to contact centres and stores. Some staff will eventually be re-trained.
Accenture will also be tasked with formulating next steps for Telstra in the tech space.
This major rollout has been building for some time: Telstra became the first Oz company to join UNESCO’s Business Council to “promote ethical AI” late last October.
Last year, new Telstra CEO Vicki Brady pinpointed AI as one key domain she wanted the company to excel in moving forward. Though Telstra’s PR has yet to say anything regarding this new push today, the staple telco did recently declare it was aiming to be “an AI-fuelled organisation” with its next moves.
Telstra’s product and technology executive Kim Krogh Anderson has similarly been bullish on the tech: “[AI] can really shift the dial when it comes to helping our teams provide quicker, more effective, and more personalised interactions.”
The Aussie telco giant also picked up 21,000 Microsoft Copilot AI licences in mid-2024.
Microsoft returned the favour by investing in Telstra’s Intercity Fibre Network.
TLS opened Wednesday trade up 0.49%, to $4.07, after the news.
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