Telstra Research Laboratories (TRL) was a leading

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s research and development centre in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

up until its closure in January 2006. Shortly before its closure it employed several hundred people including engineers, scientists, psychologists and other technical staff spread over several locations including

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and Launceston. The closure of TRL, with retrenchment of about 90% of its staff, was part of a broader restructure of Telstra's Network and Technology group following the announcement in November 2005 of the outcome of a strategic review led by new CEO Sol Trujillo. The new operating model places more emphasis on the reliance on key vendor partners, rather than the traditional in-house expertise that TRL provided to assist Telstra in being an intelligent purchaser of equipment and systems.

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

is Australia's dominant telecommunications carrier.

History

TRL was originally established as the Research Laboratories of the

Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...

(PMG) in 1923. The Research Laboratories continued as PMG, became Telecom Australia and later became Telstra, and was responsible for the development of several key technologies. Notable achievements included: a part in the development of radar for WW2; the first fax service in Australia; the first public TV broadcast in Australia; developing termite-resistant cabling; assisting with the development of the bionic ear and the cochlear ear implant; developing the optical fibre cold clamp; and building the first system to route calls to a destination depending on the caller's location (One3).

References

* Research institutes in Australia Telstra {{telecom-company-stub