Telstra anoints Microsoft as cloud partner in five-year tie-up

Telstra has named Microsoft as a key cloud provider in a five-year tie-up that will help the carrier shift 90 percent of its workloads to the public cloud by 2025.

Microsoft will in turn become an “anchor tenant” of the high-capacity intercity fibre network that Telstra is spending $1.6 billion upgrading to 55Tbps on selected links.

The expansion of the strategic partnership, announced on Tuesday, will see Telstra adopt Azure as part of its multi-cloud approach under the T25 growth strategy.

Microsoft is expected to provide “expertise to help Telstra scale to meet its ambition of its T25 growth strategy”, as well as “maximise value and efficiencies from the migration and deliver products and services more quickly to customers”.

Telstra will also launch a “dedicated end-to-end Microsoft practice” within its Telstra Purple managed services and technology consulting business.

The two companies said the capacity contract helps serve several customer segments, including remote working, online education, high-definition entertainment and online gaming.

Microsoft noted the deal won’t only deliver higher bandwidth, but will also reduce latency, an important consideration for users of Teams, cloud customers, and the Xbox community.

Using Azure, Microsoft 365 and Teams, Telstra Purple will build a number of industry-based solutions supporting hybrid work and cloud migration.

These will initially target the manufacturing, retail, agriculture, utilities, and finance sectors.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn said: “Our strategic partnership with Microsoft is on a scale not seen before in Australia, and it will be Australian businesses who will benefit at a time when the urgency to digitise and transform their operations has never been greater”. 

Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said: “Our partnership brings together Telstra’s leadership in network connectivity with the breadth and depth of the Microsoft Cloud to address key challenges, including hybrid work and sustainability, and support Australia’s growth.”

The two companies say they will also work together to bring data, cloud and analytics capabilities to Telstra’s sustainability goals.