Telstra enlists start-up for major engineering contract

A start-up telco and utilities provider has secured a contract with Telstra to install and maintain the company’s copper network, in a potential nine-year deal believed to be worth $100 million annually.

Infrastructure Services Group Management, owned by Bob de Boer, Adrian Field and Joseph Caporale, works with the telco industry in outsourcing, supplying and managing subcontractors.

ISGM has taken over the national contract for all work on copper telephony and broadband connections between Telstra exchanges and customer premises.

The founders started the company in 2010, with an initial $1 million investment, before raising capital. This is the first deal for ISGM following its launch.

While they declined to comment on the value of the deal, a spokesperson described it as the company’s cornerstone partnership.

Covering telephony, broadband, ULL and jumpering activities between Telstra exchanges and customer premises, the deal spans five years with a two by two year extension option.

It also includes an exclusivity contract stating ISGM will provide solely to Telstra.

The work was previously shared between Service Stream and Silcar – which recently won tenders on the national broadband network – and former Telstra subsidy Visionstream.

ISGM won the contract with a new model that integrates subcontractors into Telstra’s own allocation system for customer service work.

According to Telstra, the new national model is designed to provide a consistent customer experience and can be easily adapted to manage fluctuating workloads.

“We will be working with our new partner to streamline systems, tools and processes to give us greater control of the customer experience,” a spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald.

According to ISGM director Joseph Caporale, it was always the company’s goal to work alongside Telstra, particularly as all three founders come from the telco industry.

“We’ve all got a strong background in telecommunications… Our CCCM model takes on a ‘one team’ approach,” Caporale says.

“It will make sure that Telstra and ISGM’s systems, processes and accountabilities are streamlined in order to provide a consistent customer experience and improve the subcontractor working experience.”

“It gives transparency to ISGM’s subcontractor workforce.”

The contract involves the recruitment, training and mobilisation of at least 1,000 new subcontractors.

Caporale says the recruitment process has attracted an “overwhelming” response.