Telstra could spend billions on new mobile network

A recent report has claimed that communications and broadband giant Telstra could be spending billions of dollars on building its new mobile network, including costs for spectrum and infrastructure.

It has been claimed in a recent report that the Australian communications and broadband giant Telstra could be spending a couple of billion dollars on the building of its new mobile network, including costs such as infrastructure and spectrum. With competition for spectrum set to be fierce companies like Telstra will be fighting to get enough of the spectrum to sate the demand of their consumers for higher speed, more reliable mobile broadband services.

Communications giants and providers are in the process of planning or rolling out new infrastructure with long-term evolution (LTE) technology, which will come with many benefits that consumers are eager for, such as better coverage, faster speeds, greater reliability and capacity, and overall improvements in the quality of services. Telstra is said to be recycling the 2G spectrum for this new network. However, the telco is also set to bid for new spectrum at the auction next year, where spectrum at 700 megahertz and 2.5 gigahertz will be auctioned off. The provider will be bidding alongside rival communications giant such as Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

According to Deutsche Bank analyst, Andrew Anagnostellis, Telstra could end up spending $1.04 billion on licences, most of which will be spent on spectrum at the frequency of 700 MHz. He also predicts that the telco will spend around $950 million on infrastructure. However, he added that if Telstra goes over budget the share price could drop by 1.5¢ for every $250 million over the estimate. On the other hand, spending less than the predicted amount could see share prices increase.

Source – SMH