technology executive team, Wayne oversees the digital infrastructure and connectivity technology that spans subsea systems, terrestrial fibre networks and connectivity services across more than 30 countries.

As a result, he understands how telecommunications providers must evolve to meet exponential growth in capacity demands whilst maintaining the security, resilience and performance that enterprise customers require.

The scale of the challenge is immense. Telstra International’ s footprint covers 400,000 kilometres of subsea cables worldwide, while Telstra’ s mobile network covers more of Australia than any other provider. Under Telstra’ s new Connected Future 30 strategy, the company has positioned network investment and digital leadership as cornerstones of its future. AI integration serves as a critical enabler rather than a peripheral enhancement.

The architecture of autonomous networks Telstra International’ s approach to AI integration marks a clear departure from traditional network management. Rather than simply layering AI onto its existing infrastructure, it is implementing a network modernisation plan, placing AI and machine learning capabilities at the core.

As Wayne explains:“ Our approach is to design a network architecture specifically built to support AI and machine learning capabilities. Rather than adding these