Telstra's Great Leap Forward

And focused they were. In less than 10 months and under budget, Telstra was, on October 6, 2006, the world's first to deploy a nationwide high-speed mobile Internet and turn it on, not in selected markets, but around the entire nation. Telstra's mobile Internet had many other "firsts." It was the first to bring more than 30 live television channels to the small screen while pioneering access to integrated Yellow Pages and go-to maps in an anytime, anyplace mode.

When the performance of the new mobile Internet trumped attacks on his business strategy, his detractors got personal, resorting to slurs on Trujillo's Hispanic background. "Their behavior was as wrong-headed as it was disappointing. But as CEO, my job is to solve problems -- and let deeds in the marketplace, not disputes in the media, answer the naysayers. In my view, action is character -- both for individuals and organizations."

Last year Trujillo returned to the United States. He now serves on the boards of several prominent companies in the U.S., the EU, and China. Some Australians still decry his deliberate American management style and fondness to compete. But, by day's end, he left them with a dazzling nationwide, high-speed mobile Internet that deserves to be the envy of the world.

Keep in mind that Australia is not like other nations with high-performing mobile Internets such as Singapore, South Korea or Japan, where distances are short and population densities are high, reducing the cost and complexity of building high-speed wireless connections. Indeed, Telstra's rapid deployment of a mobile Internet with deca-megabit speeds was achieved in a market characterized by high costs, long distances and low population densities -- not unlike the U.S.

There is clearly no reason for American consumers, U.S. businesses, government agencies and nonprofits to be operating at one-fourth the capacity of those served by this global leader from down-under. American telcos would do better to model future strategies on the larger template of Trujillo's resolute leadership that can induce radical overnight change when nothing less will do -- leadership that harnesses advanced technologies, market-based management, integrated services and a clear vision for the role of wireless embedded in every sector of the New Economy.

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