New Telstra CEO upbeat about future

SYDNEY - Telstra's incoming chief executive Solomon Trujillo believes the telco now has the chance of becoming the best of its kind in the world.

He says once Telstra is privatised, it could become a "global prototype", even without buying up media companies.

But he says it won't happen if the telco is broken up into separate units.

Mr Trujillo, a veteran of the US telecommunications industry, was speaking on a one-day visit to Australia after being named the successor to Ziggy Switkowski.

The 53-year-old American-Mexican will get a salary package of up to A$10 million ($10.9 million) a year as part of his new job, which he starts on July 1.

But he said money wasn't his only motivation to join Telstra, one of the last remaining full-service telcos in the world.

"Obviously you want to be compensated appropriately for the difficulty and the value that you deliver, but it's also about the challenge," Mr Trujillo told the ABC's Inside Business program.

"I think that Telstra has an opportunity over the next few years to become, what I would call, the global prototype company."

He said Telstra could set an example for the rest of the telco industry around the world.

"In every industry companies are benchmarked... people will always look for what's the best example of a well-run, prototypical company," he said.

"I'd like Telstra to be considered that in the industry it participates in."

Mr Trujillo admitted that the upcoming full privatisation of Telstra was an attraction for him, with the telco navigating the delicate issue of the sell-off of the government's 51.8 per cent stake.

He said he probably wouldn't have joined Telstra if the privatisation wasn't on the cards.

"In all probability, probably not," he said.

"I mean, I just am very intrigued by the current position that the government has taken, that the board has taken and what I see as the marketplace taking, where Australia is clearly evolving into a free, competitive marketplace."

But he indicated he was against a structural separation of Telstra, of breaking up its wholesale and retail businesses.

"There's a lot of proven cases around the world... where they did structural separation. It didn't work well," he said, citing AT&T and BT as examples.

Mr Trujillo also indicated that Telstra probably didn't need to buy up media companies, such as TV station Channel Nine.

"Intuitively, the answer is I'm not sure owning TV stations would be part of what we have, but we do have our 50 per cent ownership in a cable TV operator, which does make sense," he said.

Mr Trujillo was speaking after his first press conference in Australia, where he promised to deliver better value for shareholders by driving up the share price.

Mr Trujillo also promised to ensure customers in the bush got services on a par with the cities.

And he said his vision was for Telstra to be the "first choice" of customers, employees and investors.

"I believe that Telstra is in that position today where it still has all the pieces of an equation where, in today's world where customers are still looking for that seamlessness, that interoperability of services and capabilities, Telstra has that opportunity," he told media.

"My belief is that here in Telstra, over the next few years, we are going to be able to do some things that no one else around the world is going to be doing."

- AAP