Telstra's chief executive says the telco giant will continue to invest more in its mobile network to maintain its dominance in the Australian market.
"We are committed to having the best network in Australia, with the broadest coverage. We are already investing billions of dollars. Earlier this year, we announced a further increase in our investment," chief executive Andy Penn said at the Telstra Digital summit in Sydney on Monday.
The company will invest more than $5 billion in Telstra's mobile network over the three years to June 2017, he said.
It also will start to rapidly deploy the next generation of 4G long-term evolution technology, including voice, broadcast, and peak network download speeds of up to 600 mbps.
And, it will continue to expand its 4G footprint to 99 per cent of the population.
"Our customers are clear about their preference - better coverage, better call and speed reliability, and faster downloads," he said.
Telstra depends heavily on its mobile services division to generate profits and cash to offset declining revenue in its fixed-line phone business. The mobile unit accounted for 41 per cent of its total revenue in 2014/15.
But its dominance in the mobile market is under pressure from global rivals - Singtel-backed Optus and Vodafone.
Earlier in October, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ordered Telstra to cut the price it charges other telcos to access its copper wire network.
The consumer watchdog has told the telco giant to cut the price by 9.4 per cent from November 1.
Vodafone Australia, which is shifting its entire network to 4G services by the first quarter of 2016, last week criticised the government's support for Telstra's fixed telephony services through the universal service obligation (USO) scheme.
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