• Australian telco is forming an AI venture with global consultancy
• Both companies will contribute staff and funding to the venture, which will be majority-owned by Accenture
• The move enables Telstra to massively consolidate its data and AI vendor relationships, just as it has already done with its software engineering and IT unit

Telstra is forming an artificial intelligence (AI) joint venture with global professional services giant Accenture in order to “rapidly accelerate” the Australian telco’s “data and AI roadmap to further extend its network leadership, improve customer experience, and help its teams operate more efficiently and effectively”.

The proposed joint venture (JV) would be 60% owned by Accenture and 40% owned by Telstra, though the telco said it will “retain control over its data and AI strategy and roadmap, which the JV would help deliver”. 

Both parties will contribute staff to the venture for its planned seven-year term, including “specialists from Telstra and Accenture’s Data & AI teams to build on Telstra’s work creating a world-class data and AI ecosystem, modernising its data and AI platforms, and embedding responsible AI by design.”

The partners did not announce investment numbers, but local reports (such as this one from the Financial Review) citing sources with knowledge of the deal, suggest Telstra will pump 100 million Australian dollars (AUS) (US$62m) each year into the JV for seven years, for a total investment of AUS$700m (US$434m). Accenture noted only that the JV will benefit from its ongoing investments in its Data & AI practice.  

Those local reports also suggest the likelihood of job losses as a result of the JV’s formation: Telstra has already been slimming down in recent months following its decision in May 2024 to axe 10% of its workforce. 

In the official announcement about the JV, Accenture noted that “Telstra’s core Data & AI workforce, based in Australia and India, would receive an offer to join the JV. At the end of the seven-year term, JV employees would be offered a role at Telstra. The JV is expected to become more efficient and streamlined as the acceleration of Telstra’s data and AI roadmap is delivered,” which is one way of saying that the headcount will gradually be depleted.

For Telstra, the aim of the JV is to help it “reinvent business processes through new capabilities like agentic AI, enabling teams to work with intelligent AI ecosystems to optimise key tasks end to end. The JV would also build specialised AI tools to support teams to work smarter and faster, helping build data and AI fluency across Telstra’s workforce, and fast-tracking the development of future-critical skills”.

The JV will build on efforts already underway at the telco. “We’ve made strong progress on our AI goals and already have hundreds of value-driving AI use cases across the business,” stated Telstra CEO Vicki Brady. “This includes generative AI tools built in-house, like AskTelstra and One Sentence Summary, which are helping our people support customers more effectively and efficiently,” she added.

“But our data and AI ambition goes well beyond introducing AI tools,” continued Brady. “It goes to the heart of what we do – connecting Australia, and Australians, to the world. From building self-healing, resilient networks to reinventing experiences for our customers and the way we work, AI will help power an exciting, connected future. We will get there much faster and more efficiently by collaborating in an ecosystem of like-minded global leaders, leveraging each other’s strengths and accelerating innovation. Our strategic partnership with Microsoft and our joint venture with Quantium have been critical enablers in our AI journey so far, and this joint venture with Accenture will propel us into the next phase of our AI evolution.”

Accenture’s CEO Julie Sweet commented: “We are entering a new era of AI-driven reinvention. Leading companies across the world are embracing agentic AI and generative AI to reinvent themselves using the technology and new ways of working to drive productivity and growth. We are proud of our long-standing collaboration with a visionary leader like Telstra, and committed to accelerating its bold AI-fuelled business strategy, which will set new standards for the telecom industry. We are also excited about combining our experience, talent and capabilities with Telstra’s to drive innovation and value for Telstra’s customers, people, and shareholders today and in the future,” she added. 

Creating the JV also gives Telstra another opportunity to rationalise its vendor partner roster. “As part of these changes, Telstra would consolidate vendor support from 18 data and AI providers and partners down to two JVs – Quantium Telstra and the proposed joint venture with Accenture. This would drive deeper strategic partnership, shared accountability, and enable further acceleration in data and AI,” noted the partners. 

That vendor consolidation process matches that made by Telstra’s Software Engineering & IT division, which last year moved from dealing with 400 vendors to engaging with just two strategic partners – Cognizant and Infosys – a move that streamlined operations and delivered greater efficiencies. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV