Telstra officials yesterday revealed the carrier is planning to announce the successful tenderer for its multimillion dollar Data Mode of Operations project in a "matter of weeks".
Both the carrier and a number of project hopefuls remain tight-lipped about details.
The Telstra spokesperson's only additional comment was the announcement is still subject to some commercial negotiation.
Telstra's much-hyped Data Mode of Operations hinges on the construction of a single network infrastructure to provide integrated voice and data services.
The upgrade is reportedly based on ATM and IP technologies.
Colin Goodwin, Telstra's project manager, told Computerworld the carrier expects to deploy the new technologies in this calendar year.
Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said yesterday, the DMO is shaping up as a "great direction towards a new data driven future".
"However, there are already rumblings that there are differences in opinions within Telstra," Budde said.
"What the DMO means is that it will cannibalise other products and more importantly revenues."
Budde anticipates DMO services will cost 10 per cent of Telstra's existing data services"It will be very interesting to see if this, with all the potential infighting, will be possible to introduce," he said.
"It might get stuck in the Telstra bureaucracy."