The telecommunications carrier is believed to be poised to sign a deal with WebPoint to deploy 100 to 200 of the Marconi multimedia Web phones in airports and shopping centres nationwide by July this year. The initial deal could, sources said, be followed by a decision to upgrade the carrier's current-generation smart-card enabled pay telephones to the Neptune 800 phones.
The sources said they expected a deployment similar to that undertaken by BT in Britain, who plan to expand an initial implementation of 2,000 of the phones by April to 28,000 over the next five years.
However, the initial deployment in Australia is primarily designed for marketing purposes, to help Telstra promote its existing broadband services via the phone's interactive display capabilities.
To proceed with a full-scale rollout would require a significant strategic investment and hefty commitment from the telecommunications carrier.
The reseller is also believed to be attempting to negotiate deals with the Department of Defence, local councils and other government agencies.
The Neptune provides access via touch-screen or purpose-built keyboard and mouse to a range of services, including Internet browsing and e-mail access, text messaging to mobiles, using the Internet while making calls and hot-button links to information services such as news and weather.
The phone also allows operators to deliver advertisements to users.
Surely one of the best ways for Telstra to promote broadband use in the home is to encourage people to experience it. Like trying premium ice cream for the first time, one doesn't as happily go back to generic.
With these webphones, much of the public will have the first time experience of going to their favourite webpage without having to wait for it to load. Still on the high from the, "This is as it should be!", broadband experience, it may be a good idea for Telstra's broadband-for-home sales number to be clearly displayed on the machine!