Speculations of his imminent departure from the giant telco proved true today as Telstra Corporation chief financial officer, John Stanhope, revealed on Wednesday that he is retiring after more than four decades of service to the company.

The decision was announced following Telstra's $11 billion deal with the Australian federal government, which will see the transfer of the firm's copper network that would pave the way for the smooth assumption of all telecommunication infrastructures to the National Broadband Network.

Experts view the development as an occasion for Telstra chief executive David Thodey to fully set in motion his management blueprint for the company, which he took over in May 2009 following the exit of then CEO Sol Trujillo.

The Australian reported that at that time, Stanhope was highly touted to replace Trujillo but Thodey eventually secured the top spot.

The publication also that Thodey has since then implemented policies that were aimed to restructure Telstra from a technical-leaning firm to a more revenue-generating entity that gives emphasis on sales and marketing concerns.

Those changes were evident on the gradual retirements of the old Telstra guards, with Stanhope representing one of the few holdout among other remaining executives that date back even before the Trujillo era.

Rumors of Stanhope's exit have been circulating since last week as The Australian reported that the CFO will step down once the $11 billion NBN deal has been sealed, which happened indeed during the latter part of the previous week.

Thodey called Stanhope as a key leader not only for Telstra but also for the telecommunications industry as experts said that the finance officer's stature would have largely contributed for Telstra investors to thumbs up the NBN deal.

Analysts said that Telstra will definitely feel a big loss in the sudden retirement announced by Stanhope but the outgoing CFO himself has assured that "Telstra has wonderful people and assets and I am confident the company's future is extremely bright."