TelstraClear CEO Allan Freeth has hit out at a National Business Review report that referred to a CEO forum operating within the Telecommunications Carriers' Forum (TCF) as a ‘CEO club'.

"We fully support the TCF and its work on key industry-wide issues,” Freeth says in a statement.

"But we do not feel a need to participate in any form of chief executives' club, especially if it does not have any customer focus to it.

"It was the very reason we did not join the Vodafone-led Telecommunications Industry Group (TIG) in the first place.

"For more than 20 years, TelstraClear has been fighting monopolistic incumbents. To that end, TelstraClear will not be part of any grouping that sets out to focus on the industry instead of the customer.

The TIG announced last week it was disbanding to merge into the TCF, adding that a special TCF CEO forum had met for the first time in June.