Telstra’s new CEO Andrew Penn on Thursday anno unced he will increase spending on the Australian incumbent’s mobile networks to A$5 billion (€3.4 billion) in the three years to June 2017.
In a speech at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event in Sydney that was published on Telstra’s Website, Penn said his company plans to build 750 new base stations, bringing the total in the telco’s footprint to 9,000, covering an area of 2.5 million square kilometres.
Telstra will also deploy 750 small cells and roll out the latest network technologies, including voice over LTE (VoLTE), LTE broadcast and LTE-Advanced, he said.
"We will increase our total capex investments to 15% of sales for the next two years, providing another half a billion dollars for mobiles," said Penn. "In total, over three years to June 2017 we expect to have invested more than A$5bn into Telstra’s leading mobile network."
In his first public speech since taking over from David Thodey as Telstra CEO on 1 May, Penn set out his three high-level objectives: putting the customer "at the heart of everything we do"; delivering "world class technology"; and "to continue to have the best telecommunications networks in Australia."
To meet these objectives, Penn said Telstra needs to keep up with three major trends: the migration from desktop to mobile; the growth of the cloud; and the advancement of machine learning.
To address these trends, Telstra is developing new, in-house digital businesses such as its IP video and e-health operations, among others, and investing and incubating budding technology start-ups.
"Ultimately all digital innovation is dependent on the quality of the underlying network. It is our networks that are the enablers of the technology we use today," Penn said.
"That is why during my time as chief executive I am committed to make sure we have the best networks in Australia with the broadest coverage," he said.
