Andrew Barnes is a 44 year old who lives in Melbourne, VIC, and has been a Telstra shareholder since T1.

If I were Telstra’s CEO I would...Exploit opportunities outside the restricted voice and ULL arena. That's easily said and I know other projects are in progress. I would also continue to publicise the uneveness of the playing field that Telstra has to operate on. And maybe I'd ask the G9 to get into installing some of their own public infrastructure so that Telstra can seek below-cost access to it !

If you asked me what I did, I'd say...Work full-time|Investor|Telstra staff member

I bought most of my Telstra shares in...T1

I bought Telstra shares because...I thought it would be a great investment to hold for the rest of my life. I expected it to be supplementing my super in retirement. Telstra was one of those iconic firms that you have own part of!

My first successful investment was...My own house I guess.

The best investment I ever made was...Besides my own house, I think it would have been Comm-Bank. It has increased in value and paid a regular and increasing dividend.

What I learned from my worst investment decision...Don't buy into an uncertain regulatory environment and don't buy or even hold when the fundamentals have become too stretched.

The best investment advice I’ve ever been given...Buy for the long term, mainly for dividend yield, re-invest the dividend and don't panic when your stock softens. I have adopted this right through the whole Telstra fiasco.