Westpac taps Telstra for telecom upgrade

Five-year contract includes fibre upgrade for St George

Telstra has landed a five-year telecom services agreement with Westpac that will support the bank’s 2017 strategy.

Telstra will provide domestic data network, primary Internet access and outbound voice to Westpac. It will also will provide telecommunications for Westpac’s Pacific Bank subsidiary.

Westpac subsidiary St George will migrate its corporate and branch communications network to Telstra. The telco said 300 sites will be upgraded to a fibre service.

Telstra will also provide several services, including network connectivity, digital media services, Wi-Fi, audio conferencing and data centre connectivity.

Telstra did not disclose the price of the contract.

“This new chapter sees an expansion of our existing relationship with Westpac, and will support the business with its digital future strategy across all brands within the Westpac Group,” said David Burns, group managing director of Telstra global enterprise and services.

“It has been a truly collaborative story to date, with our tailored solutions helping the business to put the infrastructure in place to not only achieve its technology transformation but also to support the wider business objectives for 2017.”

In Westpac's financial results released earlier this week, group CEO Gail Kelly said that the bank is “responding proactively and strongly to digitisation".

Westpac spent $531 million on investments in the first half of fiscal year 2014, with 47 per cent on growth and productivity initiatives including a new digital and mobile platform and branch tech upgrades.

Read more: Westpac renews Optus mobile contract

An additional 24 per cent of the spend went to other technology, including upgrades to security applications, general ledger and payroll systems, as well as the migration of server infrastructure into Westpac’s new data centre.

Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags TelstrafinancialWestpacfibrest georgetelecomvoicebankcontract

More about Telstra CorporationWestpacWestpac

Show Comments
[]