Telstra Wholesale to axe CTS service next year

The telco said it does not have a replacement product.

Telstra will axe its Wholesale Call Termination Service (CTS) with customers losing access to the facility on September 30 2026, with its competitors calling the move “significant”.

The telco posted on its broadband and voice, product and exits and solutions page that it would be ending the service this September with the national stop sell beginning September 30 this year.

CRN Australia understands several competitor telcos have sent out communications to their customers around the ending of the wholesale CTS.

A Telstra Spokesperson told CRN Australia: “Telstra Wholesale reviewed its product portfolio in mid-2024 to ensure investments and resources were focussed on growth areas aligned with our strategy.

“Following that review and due to limited uptake of Wholesale CTS, we decided to exit the product.”

Wholesale CTS is two-way call cancellation service that is delivered over session initiation protocol (SIP) trunk technology, which connects a SIP or a SIP based calling platform to Telstra’s BroadWorks IP telephony calling platform.

The wholesale CTS is used by companies like mobile virtual network operators, MSPs and unified communication providers to host customers’ phone numbers and route customer calls.

Telstra noted that affected customers had been warned about the shut off.

“We provided two years notice to the few impacted wholesale customers and are working directly with them to make the transition as smooth as possible, this includes waiving all exit related charges,” a Telstra spokesperson said.

Telecommunications brands, such as Symbio, see this as a big move for the telco.

Jo Quinn, general manager, products and marketing at Symbio Connect said, “Telstra is a large player in the Australian market, we view this move away from offering wholesale call termination services as significant.”

She added that the company received a notification in May 2024 that Telstra was discontinuing the sale of wholesale inbound numbering services (13/1300/1800).

“They have also released dates - as available on their website - for Number Hosting CTS,” she said.

Other communication brands and partners see this as a moment for them to step into the hole Telstra has left.

Jason Bock, director at wholesale communications platform Activa Communications told CRN Australia that Telstra closing its CTS service is a “great opportunity” for them.

“Telstra's decision is a great opportunity for us. We're already seeing increased interest from some segments of our market and we expect this to continue over time,” he said.

Bock said it “makes sense” for the telco to focus on their other platforms.

“It's our view that Telstra really should not have a wholesale function at all. Instead the retail and wholesale operations should be totally separate and independent from each other,” he said.

Quinn said the company sees the CTS as an “important building block” in several of the services provides by alternative retail and business service providers today.

“Symbio has reaffirmed our commitment to continue to offer these services into the future and have offered assistance to customers regarding the porting of services ahead of Telstra’s intended exit date,” she said.

She argued that CTS supports innovation, competition and importantly also provides redundancy within the telecommunications sector.

“We have a number of customers who actively choose to send their Australian call termination traffic via two or more suppliers to ensure resiliency and reduce the potential impact of specific carrier outages,” she added.

Since the news of Telstra ceasing its CTS service, Quinn said she has recently seen an increase in numbers being ported into Symbio.

“We have also seen an increase in our inbound number traffic; however, this is in part being driven by new capability and features that Symbio have bought to market over the last 12 months,” she explained.

CRN Australia reached out to Vocus for comment.