Telstra (ASX:TLS) has the enterprise and government sectors in its sights with the launch of a suite of new managed data network services.
The suite offers customised network design, professional installation, monthly reports and service restoration across both the equipment and the data network connectivity.
It also offers a number of secure data transmission options such as government-grade highly encrypted security.
Two main bundles are being available, a 'Proactive Managed MDN Bundle' for mission-critical sites and a 'Reactive Managed MDN Bundle' for non-mission critical sites.
The proactive bundle includes monitoring and alarming, response, diagnosis, repair and integrated reporting, while the reactive bundle requires customers to contact Telstra if there is a fault or any other issue.
According to Telstra Enterprise and Government executive director, John Paitaridis, the telco will use the service as a foundation on which to offer additional services such as hosted IP telephony, video conferencing and Cloud computing.
A variety of service level agreements are offered with the new managed data network services including improved fault restoration times of 50 or 80 per cent, and the use of the company’s Next G Wireless WAN service as a back up for improved business continuity.
In related Telstra news, the telco has informed customers that it has begun counting the cost of damage to its infrastructure in the wake of cyclone Yasi. The company has stated that hundreds of network sites have been affected by the cyclone.
“Early indications suggest that around 5000 fixed phones are currently not operating and around 25 mobile towers are without service on the network,” a Telstra statement reads. “We expect individual service faults to be much higher across the region.”
Telstra has also urged the Federal Government to show regulatory restraint as it progresses into the early stages of rewriting the rules governing media and communications to reflect an increasingly online-dominated world.
In its submission to the Government’s call for industry feedback on its Convergence Review draft Terms of Reference, Telstra executive director, Public Policy and Communications, Jane van Beelen, wrote any rewriting of the regulatory frameworks around convergence required the recognition of the need for regulatory forbearance and the promotion of investment in convergent industries.
“The Government recognises as a general principle that all regulation runs the risk of reducing productivity both directly, by imposing compliance costs on business, and indirectly by creating perverse incentives for management,” van Beelan wrote.
“However, policy makers should be particularly vigilant about the risks of creating an unnecessary regulatory burden in the context convergent industries.”