Telstra is aiming to make e-health a material contributor to earnings in the long-term and is taking its health business into the next stage of development, group executive of new business Cynthia Whelan said.
After a launch nearly two years ago, there has been little noise from the division and Ms Whelan admitted there has not been a lot of clarity around Telstra Health's progress and what the plans for the division are.
"We've completed that acquisition phase of the business, now we're moving into the integration phase," Ms Whelan told The Australian Financial Review.
"We've now amassed a portfolio of foundational companies."
Telstra has invested over $240 million in 18 acquisitions of, or partnerships with, health software and analytics companies.
Ms Whelan said over the next 12 months to 18 months Telstra Health will be focused on bringing all those different technologies and systems into one package so the business can eventually achieve the scale needed to add significant revenue – the company does not break out health revenue in its earnings.
The $240 million invested in e-health is not a lot to invest by Telstra's standards – the telco will invest around $15 billion in its core networks over the next three years and in 2015-16 made $5.8 billion in profits.
However, Ms Whelan noted Telstra Health is looking to leverage the core business, including its networks.
"These are technology assets. They need regular investment and consistent investment to meet the needs of a fast growing market," she said.
Add more value
"We will bring them together and create new platforms and solutions. We think it's very important as these technologies become ubiquitous that they're open technologies."
Telstra is looking to diversify its revenue, especially given it faces a $2 billion to $3 billion hole in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation following the completion of the rollout of the national broadband network in 2020.
While e-health is not expected to contribute significantly to fill that gap in time, the company is hopeful it can, in time, add more value. Investors will be keenly watching to see if Telstra can pull it off.
"Telstra Health is a growth business, our focus is very much focused on delivering great services ... as Telstra Health continues to grow we'd like to see it make a more material contribution to the overall Telstra portfolio," Ms Whelan said.
While that may, in the long-term, lead to Telstra Health looking overseas, Ms Whelan said the business, for now, was focused on the domestic market.
"Within the Australian healthcare system there is a significant amount we think Telstra Health can contribute. Over time, if we've proved them here, scaled them here, we will at some stage look internationally."
Some of the services the business is providing are secure messaging services for health information, software for electronic prescriptions and has bought businesses such as Anywhere Healthcare, designed to help people in regional and remote areas get access to specialist doctors and healthcare over video conferencing.
