Telstra has appointed CSL chief Tarek Robbiati as the head of its new international business unit.
Robbiati, who has headed up the Hong Kong mobile operator since July 2007, will remain in that post until June 30 next year.
Telstra said Hong Kong would become the new headquarters for the international division, which includes all assets outside Australia and New Zealand.
These include CSL, its 50% stake in bandwidth joint venture Reach, its PoPs worldwide, and its China search and advertising businesses, such as SouFun, Autohome and Sharpoint.
Robbiati said that the creation of the new Telstra International business unit would “ensure greater focus on growing these assets, by consolidating them into a single point of accountability.”
“I will continue to be heavily involved in the day to day operations of CSL and from next year the new CEO will report to me as the group managing director of Telstra International,” he said.