For some time now, Telstra has been committed to building a resilient, high-capacity network to support emerging technologies and evolving customer needs. Particularly when it comes to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the company is helping to facilitate rapid digital growth, encompassing autonomous networks, smart cities and satellite access.

Sarah Mills, global head of wholesale at Telstra International, offers a unique perspective to this evolving market. Having recently located to Singapore from senior roles in the UK at Vodafone, Neos Networks and Telefónica, she is now spearheading Telstra’s vision to enable businesses and individuals to thrive in the digital economy.

“When I left Telefónica, I really felt that I didn’t understand the infrastructure layer enough to complete the whole picture,” she shares. “I wanted to expand my experience.”

In this interview with Capacity, Mills speaks about how Telstra is leveraging its network expertise to implement AI and autonomous networks, in addition to creating connectivity opportunities across APAC.

What sets the APAC digital market apart for Telstra

The APAC market continues to experience mass digital transformation, which throws up many challenges given the sheer size of the region and the difference of each market. For 25 years, Telstra International has held an extensive subsea network footprint in the region. This extends beyond subsea infrastructure to cable landing stations, network operating centres and terrestrial backhaul into commercial data centres where it also has its own capability on a colocation basis.

Mills explains that, with the backing of its Australian hub, Telstra is able to continue innovating strongly and promote a diverse region.

“Within APAC specifically, the complexity comes from multiple countries with very different cultures, regulations, laws and practices. Telstra has had this footprint and expertise across different markets for so long and has done very well in terms of enabling so many businesses to access the region,” she explains.

“Now, we’re starting to see a massive surge in demand, driven by the fact that APAC is still such a growing territory itself. There are multiple emerging markets within it, but also a young population – especially in the Southeast Asian markets – that leans extremely well to the adoption of digital services on such a massive scale.”

This transformation offers significant expertise to the market, as global customers from other territories are attracted to invest in the region. Already, hyperscalers are partnering locally and in turn accelerate the build of the digital infrastructure capabilities across the entire supply chain.

“They need the infrastructure, but it’s complex, which is where it becomes quite interesting,” Mills adds. “What Telstra is trying to do is leverage all that heritage, experience and assets and align with that vision of enabling people to thrive in the digital economy.”

Telstra seeks to successfully navigate the complexities of regulation across the APAC region to get its own infrastructure and services in operation with its strong footprint. This resonates with Mills.

“You’ve got early adopters and fantastic demographic in terms of business growth in this region, but a lot are underserved,” she explains. “Underserved in terms of terrestrial geography making it difficult to get connectivity to these regions, but also in terms of other geopolitical and economic influences.

“Us playing a role in these factors is hugely exciting.”

Enabling critical connectivity with AI

As the international arm of Telstra, Telstra International prides itself on being agile, with its secure multi-segment subsea infrastructure and network footprint. When it comes to supporting critical connectivity, Mills charts a shift that is driven by AI and the capabilities it delivers.

“What we can now do is innovate to create a network that’s AI-driven and enables customers to plan and orchestrate their network in a simulator before they even begin to make that physical investment,” Sarah says.

“It’s about enabling the customer to procure more easily access infrastructure capability and control capacity – but more than that, it’s about delivering a network that is hugely proactive and therefore, in turn, incredibly secure and resilient.”

Another crucial priority for telco customers currently is resilience and security, particularly as threat actors often target telecommunications companies. With rising cyber threats and geopolitical instability worldwide, Mills says Telstra’s position is to use AI to support autonomous networks.

“Resilience is about making sure uptime is always there, as all markets are becoming mission-critical,” she says. “They all need to be resilient to cyber threats.

“We’re building on our network at Telstra to bring AI and other innovations into it to create this network for the future. The next benefit for our customers is that we have a far more efficient network, but it also enables them to get what they want when they want it, knowing that it’s absolutely safe and secure.”

Going ‘back to basics’ for digital innovation

The wider telecommunications industry continues to shift on account of emerging technologies, but Mills charts a shift back towards its foundational strength: network infrastructure. Such a pivot recognises that connectivity forms the critical backbone that digital services depend on.

“What we see is major telcos focusing right back to the core,” she says. “There was a trend in the last five years where telcos were trying to reinvent themselves as technology services companies. But what telcos are realising now is that was difficult to have all those capabilities.”

The shift, from both a customer and a market perspective, could see a procurement trend where customers will buy infrastructure and technology services separately, rather than opting for total solution options.

“It’s never been so accessible in terms of how customers need to be able to orchestrate and control technology from a customer perspective,” Mills explains. “That accessibility, through innovation, is going to drive a whole different procurement and go-to-market style approach.

“I see a massive opportunity, more so than ever before, where the telco focuses on its core. The infrastructure layer has been largely ignored or not really cared about before now. Without the right solid and secure foundations, you can’t create mission-critical applications, but it needs to be able to be consumed in a way that is secure and resilient. That’s the shift we’re going to see by 2030.”

Looking at the big picture, Mills shares the ultimate vision is “to enable individuals and businesses to thrive in the digital economy”. To do that, she explains that they need a digital infrastructure foundation to deliver digital services over and above that.

“The vision is to enable all of them to deliver their own digital services or enable their customers to have their digital services delivered to the APAC region,” she explains. “Australia is an anchor in that and can deliver geological stability and power capability, alongside its renewable energy initiatives, to build data centres.

“We’re enabling the infrastructure for the satellite constellations to deliver connectivity in those remote and underserved areas. How fantastic is that?”

Related stories:

Telstra International to build AI-powered autonomous network by 2030

Telstra International: Powering Asia-Pacific’s digital future through scalable, smart infrastructure