Telstra, Australian Customs sign $56m telco contract

Telco will provide network, unified communications services to 5700 staff

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) has struck a five-year, $56 million contract with Telstra for managed telecommunications services.

The agreement, called the Customs Managed Telecommunications Service (CMTS), will provide network, unified communications and video conferencing services to 5700 staff nationally over a secure network. CMTS also includes mobile voice, data and satellite services.

Telstra chief customer officer Gordon Ballantyne said it planned to develop a range of solutions for ACBPS that supports their critical operations.

In July 2013, ACBPS signed a $32 million five-year deal with Telstra for secure Internet gateway services.

The telco will migrate 11 agencies including ACBP, the Department of Finance and Deregulation, the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to the secure Internet service. It is designed to provide public access to Web services while protecting against malware and hacking attacks.

According to Telstra's enterprise and government group managing director, Paul Geason, the agreement will provide over 22,000 government staff with enhanced online security.

ACBPS also introduced an advanced passenger analysis solution which uses big data to help officials identify suspicious visitors.

The IBM offering collects and stores passenger name record (PNR) data which is then assessed with relevant information. PNR data is shared between airline carriers and ACBPS officials.

According to ACBPS, the solution eliminates the manual and time consuming process of pulling data from multiple host systems. Officials now receive real-time data for all departures and arrivals.

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Tags Telstratelecommunications servicesAustralian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS)

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