Other companies offering fixed-line services must therefore deal with Telstra, except Optus, TransACT and a few others who have installed their own infrastructure. Telstra also has pay TV and owns 35% of the Australian media company Foxtel. Telstra once retained ownership of the fixed-line telephone network, but since the nationwide upgrade to the National Broadband Network (NBN), the Australian Government now has legal ownership of these lines since 2007, though Telstra has played a big part in this upgrade supplying resources to the Government on the new network. Telstra has faced competition since the early 1990s from Optus (Australia's second largest communication company) and a number of smaller providers. The corporation then traded under the 'Telstra' brand internationally and 'Telecom Australia' domestically until uniform branding of 'Telstra' was introduced throughout the entire organisation in 1995, following an unsuccessful attempt to register the trademark 'Telecom Australia'. The name 'Telstra' is derived from the word Telecom Australia (TEL from Telecom and STRA from Australia).

The AOTC was renamed to Telstra Corporation Limited in 1993. In 1993, the Overseas Telecommunications Commission, a separate government body established in 1946, was merged with the Australian Telecommunications Corporation into the short-lived Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (AOTC) which continued trading under the established identities of Telecom and OTC. In 1989, the ATC introduced new buildings and frameworks. The Australian Telecommunications Commission (ATC), trading as Telecom Australia, ran domestic telecommunication services. Responsibility for postal services was transferred to the Australian Postal Commission (Australia Post). On 1 July 1975, separate commissions were established by statute to replace the PMG. Prior to 1901, telecommunications were administered by each colony. Australia's telecommunications services were originally controlled by the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), formed in 1901 as a result of Australian Federation.

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