T3 shareholders, consumers and the Australian Government were collecting in a trifecta-win with the New Telstra now recognised by Australian and overseas investors as a high- performance telco with world-leading results in a spectacular two-and-a-half year turnaround.
Speaking as T3 successfully drew to an end, Telstra's Chief Financial Officer, Mr John Stanhope said the New Telstra had delivered a winning trifecta for the Government treasury and taxpayer, Telstra consumers and shareholders, and the national interest.
"The New Telstra, launched on 15 November 2005, has enabled Telstra shareholders to invest in a long-term strategy to bring Australia to the top quartile in the OECD's 30 advanced economies.
"The New Telstra is based on a fully integrated business model which, in the final round of privatisation (called T3) in 2006, was affirmed by the Government and the regulator.
"This integrated business model has unleashed unprecedented innovation. This has been shown by advances in the deployment of wireless and wireline Next Generation Networks, new high- speed broadband applications based on wide coverage and simplicity, customer-centred market- based management, and new technology-enhanced business and customer support systems.
"Furthermore, the New Telstra has also stimulated growth in revenues and market share; turned in world-leading results in key strategic battlegrounds: wireless, broadband and PSTN lines as well as directories; rewarded shareholders who invested in the T3 sale; and benefitted the Government by generating more than $15 billion in new revenues directly to the Government from the T3 sale completed in the final months of 2006."
Mr Stanhope said Telstra's 1.4 million shareholders had also seen Telstra's market capitalisation grow by about $15 billion or 30 per cent since the government sold the third and final tranche of Telstra in November 2006.
"Our integrated business model has delivered innovation, cost control and revenue generation exceeding our global peer group, all in spite of the increasingly turbulent capital markets and deteriorating outlook for the global economy.
"These results, recognised internationally, have been achieved despite an adverse regulatory regime that discourages investment, uses arbitrary cost estimates defying common sense, increases costs, and causes uncertainty that undermines rational planning and resource allocation.
"Furthermore, we have delivered world class services via our Next G™ wireless broadband network which is integrated with our Next IP™ network services - crucial parts of our fully integrated telecommunications company.
"Telstra shareholders - largely Mums and Dads - invested $46 billion in purchasing shares from the government in the three tranches.
"Their continued investment of more than $15 billion in the final (T3) tranche reflects shareholders' confidence that the integrated strategy and structure of the New Telstra will be continued by the Board and management as well as confidence in T3-related assurances of regulatory stability that the strategy of the New Telstra will not be side-tracked by the Government or the regulator.
"Shareholders bought and held shares in a company they believed would remain integrated and certainly not one that would face the spectre of intrusive regulatory meddling, and particularly not any form of enforced structural separation.
"It is pleasing that shareholders, including more than 100,000 new to the Telstra share register since T3, have been rewarded as we are successfully executing our transformation strategy particularly since many of these shareholders borrowed to pay for their Telstra shares.
"The new integrated services that differentiate Telstra in the marketplace offer value to our customers. This is why Telstra is able to deliver world leading results compared with our global peer group on key financial metrics in the fixed line, wireless, broadband and Sensis businesses."
Mr Stanhope said that Telstra has continued to extend its 3G market leadership.
"Our 3G mobile subscriber penetration has gone from virtually nothing in December 2005 to 43 per cent of our total mobile subscribers at the end of April 2008. We now have more than 4 million 3G subscribers.
"Our market leadership is being recognised by international investors with the percentage of overseas shareholders in Telstra having risen from 6.25 per cent in 2005 to close to 20 per cent."
T3 was the second biggest share offering in Australian history. The government originally indicated it intended to offer in the order of $8 billion worth of shares in the third tranche of the sale of Telstra Corporation. In fact strong investor demand allowed the government to nearly double the size of the offer and raise $15.5 billion from the T3 share sale.
Telstra management covered about 137,000 km over a five week period on the T3 investor roadshows having more than 40 meetings in five Australian cities and nearly 100 meetings in 18 overseas cities. Management met with about 600 institutional investors and more than 800 retail brokers.
Mr Stanhope added: "A key milestone in Telstra's transformation strategy was switching on in one day the nationwide Next G™ wireless broadband network, three months ahead of schedule.
"This was recognised by the then Finance Minister, Senator Nick Minchin, who said the delivery of the Next G™ network ahead of schedule was very important in sustaining the government's offer."