Telstra Awards Accenture Five-Year Application Outsourcing Contract

SYDNEY, Australia — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has signed a five-year, multi-million-dollar application outsourcing contract with Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, to maintain Telstra’s customer care and billing platform, which Accenture helped design and deploy.

Under terms of the contract, Accenture will be responsible for the ongoing management of the platform and ensuring that it operates effectively through further migrations and software releases.

“Telstra is now offering Australians a world-class customer care experience as a direct result of the implementation of our new customer care and billing platform,” said Tom Lamming, Telstra’s Transformation & Technology Advisor. “Accenture has worked with us on the transformation journey since the beginning, so this is a logical extension of the work they have already performed.”

Accenture led the development and implementation of the customer care and billing platform as part of Telstra’s business transformation program. Telstra has migrated more than 5 million consumer customers and 8.5 million services to a new platform, processing hundreds of thousands of orders and millions of bills, with no increase in complaint volumes.

“The IT transformation we are undertaking with Accenture’s significant contribution is all about enabling Telstra to achieve excellence in customer service - now and into the future,” said Lamming. “It is making the business more effective and transforming the customer experience. The Accenture team has played a major role in helping Telstra change the game, so we are pleased to engage them to provide ongoing support for our customer care and billing solution.”

Steve Willis, managing director of Accenture’s Communications & High Tech practice in Australia, said, “Telstra has a relentless focus on customer service and required care, and its new billing platform will provide the company with a competitive advantage now and in the future. This agreement is the opportunity for us to continue our work as a key transformation partner with Telstra, helping introduce new products, training techniques and advanced technologies.”

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 186,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2008. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Telstra

Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, with one of the best known brands in the country. They offer a full range of services and compete in all telecommunications markets throughout Australia, providing 9.4 million Australian fixed line and 9.4 million mobile services, including 4.4 million 3G services. Telstra is the 11th largest telco in the world based on market capitalization and for the financial year ended 30 June 2008 outperformed its global peer group in terms of domestic revenue growth and mobile service revenue growth. Its home page is www.telstra.com.