The move cements Telstra’s commitment to providing deeper capabilities for customers in the mining, oil and gas industry.
Subject to completion on June 30, Telstra will acquire the network design and consulting services business of CBO Telecommunications, whose capabilities include expertise across Wi-Fi and mesh technologies and the design, build and maintenance of enterprise grade networks used in mine sites.

Alongside CBO’s longstanding relationships with key mining customers, it also has significant capabilities to support the future growth of Telstra’s mining focused private LTE and public LTE (LANES) businesses.

Martijn Blanken, group managing director, Telstra Global Enterprise and Services, commented: “These investments are part of our strategy to create a significant global mining technology product and services business.

“Telstra is committed to becoming a new driving force for mining in Australia by helping the industry transition to a digital future.”

To continue to build specialist mining capabilities, Telstra has also appointed Jeannette McGill and Eric Nettleton. Starting on July 1, McGill, the recent head of technology and innovation at Anglo American Platinum, will be the head of Telstra Mining Services.

Nettleton has joined Telstra’s Global Products and Solutions team to work on the next generation of mining technology products. He also has extensive mining industry technical experience after leading both the Automation Technology R&D team at Rio Tinto Innovation and the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation at the University of Sydney, developing new technologies for Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future programme.

The acquisition of capabilities and expertise is in addition to organically growing Telstra’s mining industry capabilities, including introducing bespoke products such as the Telstra Resources Network Management solution, which provides remote management of on-site ruggedised industrial data networks.