Microsoft and Telstra announce partnership involving Copilot and Fibre network

Telstra, the largest telecommunications and technology company in Australia, and Microsoft today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership, focusing on Copilot and fiber network infrastructure.

First, Microsoft has chosen Telstra to expand its AI infrastructure in Australia. As part of this collaboration, Microsoft has become a foundational partner in Telstra’s new ultra-fast Intercity Fibre Network. With approximately 1,800 kilometers of fiber already laid across Australia, Microsoft will utilize the initial fiber network routes to deliver its cloud services, including AI offerings. Microsoft has also engaged Telstra InfraCo to provide AI solutions to customers in Australia.

Second, Telstra plans to purchase 21,000 Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses for its employees. This marks the largest deployment of the generative AI service in Australia and one of the largest among communication providers globally. Notably, Telstra will not deploy Copilot to all employees simultaneously but will instead implement a phased rollout. This large-scale deployment follows a successful trial with 300 early adopters who reported saving between one and two hours per week.

Telstra CEO Vicki Brady commented on the partnership with Microsoft:

“Our intercity fiber network routes connect Australia to the world, seamlessly transitioning terrestrial fiber to our extensive international subsea fiber network. This partnership, which involves building high-capacity intercity fiber routes for Microsoft, further enables Microsoft to boost its capacity and achieve end-to-end connectivity across key telecommunications routes in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.”

Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft, added:

“Our strategic partnership with Telstra reflects Microsoft’s commitment to empowering organizations’ AI transformation responsibly and securely.”

In 2022, Microsoft and Telstra announced a major five-year agreement. As part of this agreement, Telstra selected Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud partner within its multi-cloud approach to migrate 90 per cent of its applications on public cloud infrastructure by 2025.