does telstra have what it takes

Here is a good article that summarises the telco industry post separation.

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/326011/all_telcos_need_consider_separation_ovum

“If the underlying network is commoditised, it is hard to differentiate. So differentiation will happen at the retail level. The simple resale of network capacity is not enough; there has to be additional services, opportunities for bundling and you need to understand and segment your market to do that properly.”

“Provide managed end-to-end services to customers that they really value,” he said. “The old approach of providing vanilla services to everyone no longer cuts it in this sort of market. It requires a good understanding of the customer and personalisation.”

Kennedy said that recent announcement of Telstra’s T-Hub platform for delivering services into the home was a good example of the direction in which telcos were likely to respond to the concept of separation.

The question is, does TLS under Thodey have enough customer focus to be a big winner.
The article rightly suggests that the skilsl needed to run a wholesale network are completely different to those needed to run a retail/marketing telco company.

Is Thodey the man to really drive the changes in culture needed within TLS to keep or grow market share? Recent announcements suggest that he is increasingly customer focused.
Perhaps the separation will be a positive for TLS once the decision has been made to separate.
The only downside to separation IMO is if the govt offer peanuts for the cu network.
I just cant see this happening. Apart from the political fallout from such an offer , the shareholders would never approve of such a deal. This would then "force" TLS management to roll the dice on the spectrum issue, which may be having to be implemented during the reign of a new government, and thus not a concrete problem as such.