Ex-Nokia boss Stephen Elop says NBN disruption brings ‘gift of urgency’

New Telstra executive and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has made his first public comments since taking on the new role.

Telstra executive Stephen Elop speaking at the Vantage conference in Melbourne. Source: Supplied.

Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has made his first public comments since joining Telstra’s management team earlier this year, declaring the telco is ready to weather the disruption the NBN is bringing to the industry.

He told Telstra’s Vantage conference in Melbourne that the NBN rollout will see two to three billion dollars of profit disappear from the telco’s coffers in the next few years.

“Those are big numbers anywhere in the world,” he said.

“I look at that as a gift. It’s a gift of certainty and urgency; there’s no ambiguity Telstra must be thinking aggressively and moving forward aggressively to define its future.”

Mr Elop, who was appointed Telstra’s group executive for technology, innovation and strategy in April, said the loss of profits associated with the NBN also coincided with fresh payments flowing into the telco that it could use to serve its customers, and make ‘thoughtful investments.’

NBN Co signed an $80 million deal last year for Telstra to oversee, maintain and repair faults across its copper and HFC networks.

“You have to think about who you are and what are your strengths. For Telstra, the absolute strength of our network, the breadth of our customer base, the trust that’s placed in our brand and the capabilities of our employees contribute to what are the core sustainable differentiators for Telstra.”

The executive said his time leading Nokia was one of remarkable difficulty, having joined three years after Apple’s iPhone was first launched. He described that as a “rare generational moment of disruption”, and said though there was nothing particularly remarkable about the smartphone from an engineering perspective, it was the first time the human to computer interface was truly done well.

“When the world changes fundamentally, that’s when in our industry great fortunes are made and lost,” Mr Elop said. “In moments of great despair and disruption there is an opportunity to do things differently and Nokia is now focused on the provision of network equipment.

“My belief is truly great companies have a capacity to survive and thrive and lead through periods of disruption, often reinventing themselves fundamentally.”

Mr Elop led Nokia from September 2010 and led it through its acquisition by Microsoft for over $US7 billion in 2013, widely regarded as one of the greatest merger fails.