Australia's third-biggest mobile company, Vodafone, says it has had its best month ever and expects to continue adding customers off the back of a marketing campaign to promote the reliability of its network.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia chief executive Inaki Berroeta said on Wednesday that the company "continued to see solid growth trends" since the end of the first-half of 2016.
"Actually, July was our best commercial month ever," Mr Berroeta said during the group's mid-year briefing.
"We continue to perform well, and I think that's on the back of customers seeing Vodafone as a good partner for their mobile communication needs. I think that is something that we see extending during the rest of the year."
Mr Berroeta did not provide customer or revenue figures but Vodafone last month reported a 4.5 per cent rise in customer numbers to 5.5 million for the six months to June 30 from a year earlier.
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Around $4 billion has been spent on improving VHA's network coverage and reliability over the last four years.
VHA, which operates across Australia as Vodafone, has also switched most of its network to the the faster 4G standard and says it is now gearing up for 5G, with plans to start lab demonstrations in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Acting chief technology officer Kevin Millroy said the demonstrations will test the capabilities of 5G, focusing on the "expected ultra-high speeds and low latency" needed to enable future technologies, including driverless cars.
"From these demonstrations, we'll get a glimpse of what customers can expect from 5G when it launches in or around 2020," Mr Millroy said.
