Telstra signs off on $700 million AI joint venture with Accenture
Telstra has been given the go-ahead for its $700 million joint venture with Accenture aimed at accelerating the Australian telco’s AI transformation, with the project to commence in April.
Announced last month but still subject to consultation with employees and unions, the proposed global joint venture has now been formally signed by executives from Accenture and Telstra, with the latter to plunge $700 million into the arrangement over the next seven years.
Steered by joint global leadership and staffed by specialists from both organisations, the as-yet-named venture aims to tap into Accenture’s recent $3 billion AI investment to help modernise Telstra’s data and AI platforms, enhance customer experience, and unearth operational efficiencies.
“This is a truly unique collaboration that will set new benchmarks of what's possible in our industry,” said Telstra’s group executive for product & technology, Kim Krogh Andersen. “Partnering with Accenture means we can tap into a global level of scale and investment that will allow us to leapfrog to the forefront of AI innovation.”
The deal will see Telstra narrow its reliance on external AI providers from 18 vendors down to just two – Accenture, and its existing joint venture partner Quantium – to promote deeper strategic alignment and shared accountability, and follows a similar recent move in its software engineering & IT division, with Infosys and Cognizant both signing long-term agreements last year.
Joint venture
As per the original proposal – which would see a 60-40 percent ownership split between Accenture and Telstra – the latter’s core data & AI workforce in Australia and India were to receive an offer to join the venture and then be given the opportunity to return to the telco at the conclusion of the seven-year agreement, with those switching to begin in their new roles from April.
The partners said that a key focus of the team will be to develop specialised AI tools to support smarter and faster ways of working and build data & AI fluency across the workforce, expediting "future-critical skills" in the process, and that it will also be tasked with reinventing business processes through new capabilities like agentic AI to enable Telstra’s teams to optimise essential tasks.
“Together, we will build a next-generation AI foundation,” stated Accenture’s global technology chief Karthik Narain. “We have a clear, shared ambition, and by combining our capabilities and ecosystem partnerships, we aim to set a new standard for how enterprises in Australia and around the world can use AI effectively, responsibly, and as a catalyst for continuous reinvention.”
Accenture and Telstra have an existing long-running relationship, with the global tech consulting giant having recently helped the telco develop a number of internal AI systems and tools for customer support. The pair also collaborated together with Google on an augmented reality ‘wayfinding app’ for footy fans at Marvel Stadium, which was launched in 2022.
