Australia's Telstra exec Burgess to leave
MELBOURNE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Telstra Corp Ltd (TLS.AX) executive Phil Burgess, a controversial critic of Australian government policy, will leave the country's dominant telecoms firm after three years of lobbying for the former monopoly, the company said on Monday.
Burgess, a U.S. national, has been Telstra's managing director of public policy and communications.
He has maintained an aggressive anti-government stance that has sparked several verbal and legal clashes over regulation and other issues as Telstra sought to protect the dominant market position its holds by virtue of being a former monopoly.
Most recently the clashes have extended to Australian government plans to build a $9 billion national high-speed broadband network that would lift Internet access speeds in the country closer to those in other advanced countries.
Telstra has threatened to walk away from a tender to build the network if it can't achieve its targeted returns of 18 percent. A rival consortium is seeking returns of 12 percent.
Debate has also raged on the possible of splitting up of Telstra, which still controls all the phone connections to homes. Competitors say a break up is the only way to level the playing field and boost competition in Australia.
Burgess, who famously said soon after his arrival that he wouldn't recommend Telstra shares to his mother, will return to the U.S. at the end of August and will continue to act as an adviser to Telstra.
He will be replaced as managing director for public policy by David Quilty, currently head of government relations. (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; Editing by James Thornhill)
