# How to fix Telstra?



## weird (27 April 2010)

I find it remarkable that this company seems to get so many things wrong where it has a clear monopoly on services.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/telstra-planning-to-axe-900-staff--cepu-20100427-tprr.html

It is a standing joke if you want to make a loss in the share market, buy Telstra.

 How would you fix Telstra ?


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## knightofsx33 (27 April 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*

it is a great company to own since it DOES make a profit, profit is what matters small things dont matter it is great to own thats the end of it since it will always pay dividends, it will not go bankrupt since its government company/monopoly so 3.15 is worth it, if it goes down I WILL JUST EAT THE DIVIDENDS


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## weird (27 April 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*

Dividend yield 8.8% looking at Commsec, nice, beats those saving accounts from Citibank, Ubank, ING Direct etc ... but your capital invested is dropping with the share price ... any suggestions to knock up the share price ... let's play directors and managers here as the price of the stock is still southbound ?


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## trainspotter (27 April 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*

Telecom's public monopoly position faced increasing pressure from two fronts. First, the rapid changes in technology and the need for new investment would place increased pressure on the Government to fund such investment. Second, the expansion of telecommunication services bought pressure from business groups to relax Telecom's monopoly in order to create opportunities for private interests. So this is why they sold Telstra.

The Telstra share offer opened on 15 October 1997. By the close of applications on 3 November 1997, 1.8 million Australians had applied for shares. Of the Telstra employees eligible to subscribe for shares under the Telstra employee share scheme, 92 per cent took up the offer. Shares were issued at $3.30 payable by two instalments: the first $1.95 ($2.00 for institutions) payable on application and the second $1.25 ($1.30 for institutions) payable in November 1998.

Telstra shares were first traded on the Australian stock exchange on 17 November 1997, opening at $2.60 with a high of $2.75 before closing at $2.67. The fully paid T1 shares rose to over $9.00 by January 1999. 

How to fix it? Why privatise it of course ......... no wait ......... they already did that and it got worse ! Ummmmmmmm ... send the workforce offshore and use Slingaporeans and Pakistanis to answer the most basic of questions? No wait ....... been done already. Sack all the workers and use private enterprise to install and maintain the majority of services. No wait ........ has already happened.

I give up, my head hurts just thinking about it. Unsavable IMO.


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## Julia (27 April 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*



knightofsx33 said:


> it is a great company to own since it DOES make a profit, profit is what matters small things dont matter it is great to own thats the end of it since it will always pay dividends, it will not go bankrupt since its government company/monopoly so 3.15 is worth it, if it goes down I WILL JUST EAT THE DIVIDENDS



What???    

You're quite happy to accept seeing your capital diminish as long as you get the dividend?



> It will not go bankrupt since its government company/monopoly.....



The government owns a mere 17% now and if they continue to stuff up the NBN proposition the way they have stuffed everything else, it will indeed go down and the government won't be saving it.

There are plenty of good, well managed companies out there which have a decent yield and a rising SP.


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## CapnBirdseye (27 April 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*

- You are through to the Telstra repair line, this is an automated service 

- Please answer the following questions by speaking as you normally would

- Do you have a service query?

_- Yes_

- Please answer yes or no

_Yes_

-  Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding you, please answer yes or no

*- CLICK*


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## Smurf1976 (1 May 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*



trainspotter said:


> *Sack all the workers and use private enterprise to install and maintain the majority of services*. No wait ........ has already happened.



I've seen first hand what happens when that is tried in various situations and the result has always, always, been a job that cost more than it should and was of inferior quality.

Outsourcing is great - for whoever gets the contract to do the work. It's a rotten idea for anyone who just wants working infrastructure however.

As for how to fix Telstra, I'm not trying to be in any way racist here but de-Americanise it and that will go a long way to fixing it. Stop focusing on the short term (12 months ahead) share price and failed management ideologies and actually start focusing on running a proper business for the long term (decade +). Then the share price will take care of itself. 

And please, no highly paid CEO's who are only interested in personal gain. Get a decent manager who actually wants the job, not somoene who just works for whoever pays the most. In other words, drop the short term focused American business culture that has failed everyone from Telstra to General Motors to the USA itself.


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## pixel (1 May 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*



Julia said:


> What???
> 
> You're quite happy to accept seeing your capital diminish as long as you get the dividend?
> 
> ...



Hear-Hear, Julia;

What's the point of getting 8% p.a. dividend if the shareprice drops by that or more? I'd say it's much smarter in that case to buy shares that move up by 10% p.a., then sell 8% to fund your allocated pension and still have the inflation covered.

 ... well: almost; with additional taxes and fees and charges increasing as they do, we may soon need 20% portfolio growth or more. Too many lipopygian chairwarmers, calling themselves "Consultants", charging for "eggspurt advice" that our Ruddy Governmint shouldn't need in the first place.

*PS: Hear-Hear Smurf1976 too! *
Just be reminded of who installed the Three Amigos in the first place. Most likely, it was too late even at that stage: Once the "this is my paying job"-mentality has entrenched itself in the minds of management and staff at most levels, it's extremely hard, bordering on impossible, to reintroduce a decent "this is my career to build a solid infrastructure and happy customers"-attitude.


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## ChilliBlue (1 May 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*

Forget not that Telstra owns a great big chunk of Foxtel and that section is lusted over by several companies.


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## Smurf1976 (1 May 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*



pixel said:


> *PS: Hear-Hear Smurf1976 too! *
> Just be reminded of who installed the Three Amigos in the first place. Most likely, it was too late even at that stage: Once the "this is my paying job"-mentality has entrenched itself in the minds of management and staff at most levels, it's extremely hard, bordering on impossible, to reintroduce a decent "this is my career to build a solid infrastructure and happy customers"-attitude.



About 3 years ago the phone line just down the street from my house was dug up, thus cutting phone services to 20 or so houses.

I was truly shocked that when I reported it (around 6pm on a weekday), Telstra didn't send someone out that night to at least make a temporary repair. A few days later someone turned up and simply filled in the hole. Then a few days after that someone turned up to make a temporary repair to the cable and restore service.

This was just an ordinary twisted pair (copper) phone cable. I could have done a temporary join myself, in the dark with a torch, in an hour or so - and that's for someone who doesn't spend his days joining phone cables so there would have been a bit of messing about compared to someone who does it all the time so ought to be quicker at it.

I've never worked for Telstra but I've spent plenty of time on-call after hours for electrical faults and there were always a few simple rules. If it was reported by the public then it always requires at least attendance on site to assess safety etc. And if it is causing a problem to the public then it requires at least a temporary fix (permanent fix would be done if practical at the time) there and then. Only if it's something of no urgent consequence, such as graffiti on a cabinet etc could it be left until normal working hours. 

I would have thought that in this modern era where communications is so essential that a failure would be regarded equally serious as a failure of electricity, water, transport infrastructure etc. Apparently not.


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## pixel (2 May 2010)

*Re: How to fix Telstra*



Smurf1976 said:


> About 3 years ago the phone line just down the street from my house was dug up, thus cutting phone services to 20 or so houses.
> 
> I was truly shocked that when I reported it (around 6pm on a weekday), Telstra didn't send someone out that night to at least make a temporary repair. A few days later someone turned up and simply filled in the hole. Then a few days after that someone turned up to make a temporary repair to the cable and restore service.




You were lucky.
Last month, when Perth drowned in hail, rain, and mud, our suburb lost power: restored after 23 hours; and phone services: restored after 9 days!
When I rang my ISP (on the expensive mobile), I was told Telstra was working on it, and could I ring back after 4 days if nothing had happened. Yeah - brilliant advice that. A week later, I recived a reply email stating we'd get compensation to the tune of $14.something a day, if connections hadn't been restored after - I believe it was the 3rd day. The fine print listed the exemptions: natural disasters, rain, flooding would disqualify the compo.

Being a full-time Trader, I could ill afford 2 days outage; 9 days would've been a disaster! So I had to bite the bullet and acquire a mobile broadband - prepaid 1GB from vodafone. That just lasted the additional week.

Day after day, I drove on the street, along which our phone and broadband cables are routed. Day after day, I saw a fleet of cars and trucks parked alongside the street, gaggles of supervisors watching a couple of workers pull new cables along the ground. During what times? Weekdays, nine to five. Seriously: When I drove past 6PM to my League Nights (Tenpins), not a single Telstra vehicle was to be seen.

Two weeks later, the monthly invoice arrived. Full monthly service charges as usual! Only after complaining that I wouldn't pay for service not delivered did I receive a Credit note for a quarter off the next invoice.


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## sptrawler (5 May 2010)

How to fix telstra. Have a double dissolution election see how fast Kev and the boys get thrown out. Another waste of $43 billion coming up. Kev needs another pair of hands he can't spend our money quick enough with two.


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