what could telstra learn from qantas

the below post is my opinion;

correct me if im wrong but their appears to be alot of similarity in the trajectories of telstra and qantas.

Qantas ex federal government monopoly protected by the australian government controlling access of competing airlines to australian airports/airspace before the company was privatised. Strongly unionised workforce. Highly regulated sector and privatised in the mid-1990's. Now the federal government is letting almost any airline around the globe fly into autsralia and compete against qantas...some of these other airlines have access to subsidies from their governments and some are owned by oil producing "groups" that can provide cheap aviation fuel for their airline. These external multinational economic forces meen qantas needs to cut operating costs to remain competitive against other (most likely) subsidised companies. Pity it may be cheap wages versus cheap oil. The federal labor government is failing its constituents again.


Telstra ex federal government monopoly protected by the australian government until it was fully privatised. Strongly unionised workforce. Highly regulated sector and privatised in the mid-1990's. Now the federal government is establishing an NBN network payed for by the australian taxpayer and foreign multi-national technology companies will be allowed to float straight in and compete against telstra. These multinational companies will have a competitive advantage through their vertical intergration in technology companies, movie studios, etc. These external multinational economic forces meen telstra will need to cut operating costs to remain competitive against other companies with a compettive advantage OR Telstra could enter other markets such as banking which are less accessable by foreign multinational companies (due to 4pillar policy etc). The federal labor government is failing its constituents again.


Qantas's branding of credit cards and creation of a frequent flyer business have shown some willingness to create new growth businesses within the group that are outside the direct business of flying customers from city A to city B. In my opinion, telstra has alot more potential than qantas ever had, however, management appears not to be creating substantial meaty growth businesses and to the contrary they are talking about maintaining a maximum dividend payout ratio and capital return through share buybacks.

I am positive about the inherent potential still in the telstra business. They just aren't growing fast enough for my liking....and obvious growth vectors appear to be getting ignored. eg nfc financial transactions/ payments app and banking.


I hold telstra shares and hope that they go up.

disclaimer; the above post is my opinion and is not to be used for making any decisions. The above post has been submitted for entertainment purposes only.