Telstra hunts for revenue opportunities with McAfee cybersecurity offering

• Australian operator Telstra unveils new cybersecurity services unlocked by a McAfee tie-up
• The company is furthering efforts for a broader services portfolio
• Telstra’s move is part of its T25 strategy focused on enhanced customer experience and personalised offerings

Telstra struck a long-standing partnership with McAfee to provide cybersecurity services to its consumer customers, as the Australian operator presses on with its offering expansion and revenue advancements strategy.

Following the collaboration, Telstra customers will have access to a suite of online security and privacy features, such as an antivirus system, identity protection and parental controls that will cover multiple devices, according to McAfee’s announcement – available here. Telstra’s cyber security executive, Matthew O’Brien, emphasised that the need for such security solutions stems from a rise in cyber threats linked to the “increasingly connected world”.

According to a recent study by McAfee, 27% of Australians surveyed have experienced an attempted theft of their account, while 23% of respondents have had their financial account information leaked.

Helping its customers surf online in a safe way is not the only objective of Telstra’s collaboration with the cybersecurity giant. As O’Brien puts it, the operator’s new partnership “further complements Telstra’s T25 ambition to extend our network leadership position by delivering greater value to our customers.”

T25, unveiled in September 2021, is the telco’s latest strategic plan and has promised to deliver a wider range of services to its customers – see Telstra unveils T25 strategy. A notable effort is being put into providing “exceptional customer experience” and offerings for small business customers, such as telecoms products, edge connectivity, cybersecurity, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT) services through its managed services business Telstra Purple.

Recently, the operator has been actively introducing new services as it looks for new revenue opportunities. In June, its wholesale telecoms services division, Telstra Wholesale, launched capabilities that allow its communications service providers customers to deliver business internet and other services in a matter of days rather than weeks or even months.

Earlier this year, it opened the doors to the Telstra Plus Market, which is a platform that allows small and medium businesses based in Australia to reach new markets by presenting their offerings to more than four million members of its loyalty programme Telstra Plus.

Other moves that the company relies on substantial partnerships for include providing personalised products through data and AI capabilities within a joint venture it created with Quantium, deploying an on-premise dedicated 5G network for enterprise with Ericsson, co-developing an edge solution for faster connectivity with Microsoft and Ericsson, and exploring new connectivity solutions with satellite communications service provider OneWeb.

- Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Deputy Editor, TelecomTV