Telstra and BT join forces to enhance Global Network Connectivity  

Australia’s largest telco Telstra Broadcast Services (TBS) and UK’s telecommunication provider BT is to combine its’global media network teams, pooling their vast network infrastructure and localised expertise.   

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Under the five-year deal, customers of both TBS and BT will have access to the unified operations of the two global media networks via a product offering headed up by Telstra, including key Asia-Pacific regions with India, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, and other countries.

According to the companies, the agreement sees TBS increase their global footprint by 50% and expand its customer-base to more than 170 broadcast and media organisations worldwide.

Telstra said its customers will benefit from its high-capacity media networks, generating expanded reach and distribution of their content.

The partnership is supported by an increased local team in APAC and access to the broader suite of TBS products and services, including field services, special events teams, and broadcast operations centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, London, and Pittsburgh.

“Our priority at TBS is to offer a world-class global content delivery service for our customers, including the largest distribution network with the most flexibility and options for organisations to connect to the world,” said Karen Clark, head of APAC at Telstra Broadcast Services. “We’re continuing to see rapid growth in content demand and ongoing evolution in technology and distribution channels in response to changing consumer behaviour. The focus of TBS and BT’s teams and operations on the right customer outcome will ensure our customers have the very best partner to respond to the fast-changing broadcast environment and help them optimise their operations and reach global audiences.”

Faisal Mahomed, director of media & broadcast and UK portfolio businesses, BT, said: “This approach builds on the reach of our intelligent media platform, Vena, which continues to add wider networks, in addition to cloud integrations, virtualised services such as baseband encoding, and the recent 5G and LEO developments into our portfolio.”